Wolf in Shepard's Clothing 2
by cmitts93
Summary: After losing some of the people dearest to me and cheating death so many times I've lost track, I've finally found a bit of peace working as a bounty hunter on the Citadel. However, when the man who inspired me to become what I am today asked me to jump back into the fire by his side, how could I possibly say no?
1. Reunited

"Well." I looked up at the sign before entering the shady looking bar in front of me. "This looks like the spot."

Believe it or not, I wasn't actually visiting the place for a drink since I'd finally sworn off the stuff again for good, this was strictly work-related. You see, my name's Nathaniel Wolfert and I'm a bounty hunter which put simply means it's my job to bring the dregs of the Citadel to justice. Of course, the fact that I get paid a nice little sum of credits for doing something I've learned to love is a nice little side-bonus too, I'm not **that** much of a do-gooder. In fact, if you asked a random person off the street about their opinion of the Butcher of Torfan, they'd probably say just the opposite about me.

You might ask how I got that rather grisly name, so I'll summarize my life for you here real quickly just in case you've never heard of me. Actually, you know what? Fuck that noise, there's enough information about me on the omni-net. You wanna know my backstory then you can read about it yourself because I frankly don't have the time or energy to detail all the messed up stuff I've gone through in my twenty-six years of living. All I'll say here is I grew up on the streets, joined the military to escape that life, killed a shit-ton of bad people along the way and watched way too many of my closest friends and allies die around me.

So thanks to that turn of events I'm now here, chasing down the leader of an asari trio of bank robbers who made the grievous mistake of killing C-Sec personnel. Ordinarily, they'd let the police take care of this but once they crossed the line and became cop killers, that meant they were going to be taken out swiftly by whatever hunters were available for the job. I had my issues with C-Sec thanks to my somewhat abrasive attitude when it comes to cops but to give them credit, they didn't fuck around when it came to letting people know what would happen if you attacked their personnel. The pub I was at now was a rumored hangout for all sorts of criminals and I was hoping to get some kind of clue as to what my next move should be.

Now, there were a lot of ways people went about bounty hunting. Some preferred to track their quarry, wait until they were isolated and then ambush them. Others would simply get the target's location from an information specialist and then storm the place. As you're probably guessing however, I had a **slightly** different approach, one suited to my particular talents. Namely, making a really big splash and then just sort of seeing how people reacted to it and going from there.

"What can I get for you?" The turian bartender set down a glass and placed both hands on the counter, giving me a not-unfriendly smile.

"How about a Tupari?" I took a seat on one of the stools. "I'm sort of on the job right now so getting drunk is not exactly an option."

His face went stone blank. Poor guy was probably wondering if this was some sort of strange human custom. "Then no offense meant because I'm always looking for new customers but why would you ever come here?"

"That's right, almost forgot." I smacked my head, playing it off as stupid bumbling on my end. My voice rose in volume, making sure that anyone in the establishment who cared about this sort of thing had the opportunity to overhear it. "I'm a bounty hunter and I'm looking for someone in particular who's rumored to hang out here in her spare time." I flashed a picture of the asari woman on my omni-tool while also sporting a wicked grin. "Name's Elesia Veuss."

While he was recoiling from my death wish of a statement, I discreetly scanned the room for a reaction. More than one person was making their way towards the door, trying to look nonchalant at the mention of a bounty hunter but unfortunately none of them were asari which meant that I wasn't here for them right now. Well, looks like they're not completely stupid then. Guess it's time to go to plan B.

The barkeep leaned forward and whispered into my ear. "Look human, I don't know if you came here on a dare from a friend or what but if you value your life, you'd better get out of here now." He did a survey of his own and continued. "That's not me threatening you either," he threw his hands up in an effort to diffuse any possible misunderstanding, "some of my clients are not exactly…peaceful and a bounty hunter sniffing around is a good way to cause a rather violent tide to rise."

Well it sounds like I've hit the jackpot. "I'm counting on it actually so I hope you're right." I gave a little nod before returning with more whispers of my own. "I'd still better take my leave though, you seem like a fairly decent guy and I'd hate for your place to get trashed because of me." My voice returned to normal as I made my exaggeratedly loud escape. "If you do happen to remember anything about the lady's location, just give me a call. I'll have to get that Tupari another time then."

As the door closed behind me, I slowed my pace, making sure anybody that wanted to trail me to see where I'd go was able to do just that. Whistling loudly as I walked, I got out my omni-tool and activated the camera function, discreetly angling it to look behind me so I could see just what I would be dealing with. It only took about ten seconds for a couple of asari to leave the bar I had just vacated, looking both ways before trailing me at a distance of about two hundred feet. There's the ticket. Now I just need to make my way into a position where they can ambush me without fear of C-Sec interference. If they were Veuss' lackeys which was the most likely scenario here, they would take the first chance they could get to eliminate a potential threat.

After a couple minutes of walking, I spotted some lowly-lit alleyways that I recognized would lead into a dead end. That'll do nicely. Checking under my jacket to make sure I had biotic restraints handy and easily accessible, I pulled out my pistol, put my back to the wall and waited.

The first thing that alerted me to their presence was two cautious shadows that loomed across the gap in front of me. Pushing myself off the wall, I took cover behind a large trash can. Now I just have to time this thing out.

"He came in here, I saw him." The voice of a young asari echoed off the walls to my hiding place.

A much more mature sounding one answered back. "If he's familiar with his surroundings at all, he'd know that this would lead him to a dead end."

"Think it's a trap?"

I just grinned as I readied myself for a Charge. "Probably. But we still have to investigate otherwise the boss will be extremely angry. Stay alert and watch for movement."

Now the combatant I was a few years ago in my young twenties, he would have stepped out, made some snarky pre-asskicking one-liner and then attacked. At the ripe old age of twenty-six however, I had become wiser. I coiled myself like a spring, ready to surprise them with a Charge, immobilize one right off the bat and then finish the other with some combination of hand-to-hand plus the specialty immobilization rounds that us bounty hunters used to subdue prey non-lethally.

Just as the blue tunnel started to appear around the edges of my vision, a single shot cracked through the silence and I froze, waiting for the pain to rip through me. I recognized the sound of a sniper rifle instantly and while my jacket had a rudimentary shield system along with some light plating thanks to Daxy working his magic, there was no way in hell that was going to stop anything close to a dead-on round from a sniper.

"Where'd the shot come from?" A panicked asari voice shouted and I peeked back out, seeing that one of the two had dropped to the ground in a bloodless heap. I grimaced involuntarily. That means another bounty hunter trying to move in on my mark which means a possible fight on my hands that I was not expecting. I'd run into members of a couple of the other guilds in my short time as a Contractor and whether they were from The Fets, Eternity, Red Nova or damn Black Box it nearly always ended in blows over who would be getting the credit for the target but I guess that was kind of expected from a group of people who trained specifically in hunting down hardened criminals who almost assuredly were going to put up a fight. Basically what I'm saying is bounty hunters in general are only a couple rungs above the criminals we catch and that's just the honest truth. A push in one way or another and we easily could be on the other end of law.

For once though, I actually got to think a little bit about what was going to happen next because the asari either forgot I existed or just figured the hidden person with the gun pointed at them was the bigger threat which was fine by me. I'm just gonna see how this plays out and go from there.

What must have been agonizing seconds of silence passed by for the asari in front of me as she surrounded herself with an intense-looking purplish-blue aura that could probably do what my jacket could not, especially considering that the weapons that hunters like myself used were modded with ammo blocks that were considerably less powerful which was the trade-off of being able to put a target out of commission without killing them.

It thankfully only took a few seconds for the fight to kick off in full as an asari wearing a light set of armor appeared at the end of the alleyway, looking almost more annoyed that she had to leave her hiding place than anything else. "Now why'd you have to do that?" The woman whose face was shrouded in shadows peered around into the darkness where I was hidden. "After I went to all the trouble of following Wolfy and everything too."

"Hey!" Apparently my senses for being followed weren't quite as good as I thought then. Although the shortening of my last name and the species of the mysterious sharpshooter did basically give away who the newest member of the suddenly crowded alleyway was. "I'm the one who got them to follow me here so why don't you go back to the bar and find a nice turian to flirt with Allyna?"

"Nope, sorry." At being recognized, I could practically feel the smile radiating from the sometimes overly friendly asari. The fellow Wyrwulf was one of the nicest people I knew, much too nice to be in the line of work we were, but she was just as insistent on hunting as she was on settling down much earlier than was usual for an asari as young as her. "Since Akihiro disappeared again as soon as I started talking to him I figured that tailing you would be much more fun. You never even noticed though." Well I guess having a drell hitman for a father and an asari commando for a mother did pay off in teaching you certain things from a very young age which made me feel slightly better about not realizing she was there.

"Not gonna lie Ally, I wish I had noticed you now that I know you were tailing me this whole time." I threw a friendly wink her way. "Although I will say I'm very glad it was you and not somebody from another guild."

"Awww, you say the nicest things Wolfy, I knew you had a heart of gold despite all those nasty reports about you on the net." Well. I guess I'll take the good from that and not the bad. "You still sure you don't want to go out sometime? My offer's still on the table."

I just laughed as the conversation circled around to where it always did eventually. "Still good, thanks though. Next time my buddy Mitch comes to stay though, I promise I'll hook you two up."

As she practically yipped in joy, our forgotten target had retreated to somewhere in between us, becoming more and more frustrated at being completely ignored until she had finally reached the breaking point. "By the Goddess, what is wrong with you two?"

"Please." I put her into stasis before she could react or even say another word. "We're trying to have a civil chat here and you are interrupting very rudely. Now how about we get the info out of this lady, find the big bitch herself and split the profits?"

She pondered it for a moment before nodding. "That's fine with me." The maiden walked over to our captive with a terrifyingly gleeful expression on her face, hand alight with warpfire. "Mom taught me a few tricks that can make a person talk pretty quick."

The immobilized asari's eyes went wide in horror as I interjected before she could go too far with it. "Christ Ally! We're not gonna fucking torture her!"

"We're not?"

I walked up, broke the Stasis and slapped anti-biotic cuffs on the woman before she could even give a sigh of relief at my proclamation. "That's not how I operate." Well, not anymore at least. It took a lot to push me to that drastic of a step. "We can get all the information we need from her without resorting to something that drastic."

Leaning in close to my guildmate's…ear, since I guess the little protrusions on the side of her head qualified as that, I quickly whispered an abbreviated version of my plan at which she brightened up once again. "Oh, I like it. Except for the one part at the end, you're gonna have to do that."

"What?" I scoffed. There was no way in hell that I was going to put my whole plan in the hands of the guild's second newest member, the only one fresher than her being me of course. "Why do I have to play the damsel?"

"Because how else am I going to rescue you and finally get you out of that boring old guildhall?" She grabbed my arm and practically nuzzled my shoulder which made me chuckle loudly, all of my arguments melting away with the laughter.

"Fine then, you get to play hero this time." I held up a fake finger of warning as I stepped toward our captive. "But don't think this is going to be a common thing!"

She just winked playfully before walking over to our captive asari who had sort of just flopped into a resigned pile of a person once the cuffs had been slapped on. You see, that's the problem with training too much with one specific thing. Take biotics for example, snatch them away from a person who relies on them too much and it's basically the equivalent of kneecapping someone.

As Ally stood over her, I began the time-old process of extracting information with a tired sigh. "Look, just tell me where Veuss is and this will go **so** much better for you."

Before I even knew what was happening, Ally had slammed her hand against the other asari and the two struggled for a few seconds before the cuffed one fell to the ground in a dazed heap. Right, almost forgot for a second there the asari have that whole, "mind meld," thing going on. Kinda makes interrogation a little bit unnecessary although that didn't look exactly comfortable for the other one. I shrugged off the moral dilemma mentally, she is a criminal after all so I guess it wasn't as bad as what we could have done. Mostly. "I guess that was quicker but uh, it didn't seem entirely necessary."

Adding to my discomfort, the fact that sweet, seemingly innocent Ally was capable of shit like this was a little jarring for me. From anybody else, I admittedly would have accepted it much quicker and easier. "Sorry." Just like that, she was turned to me with her typical flirty grin. "My mom taught me that when the subject is thinking of the info you want that it's much easier to meld and find it, since the information is stored shallower in the brain or something like that." She gave a sort of shrug as if to apologize again for her act. "Hey you said you didn't want to torture her right?"

Yeah, I guess I did. "Still. I didn't mean for you to go full-frontal mind assault on the woman. Even if she's going to prison for murder along with the rest of her group…speaking of group." It only took a moment to realize that the asari who took the initial shot to kick off the fight had slinked away unnoticed. Well, it's a good thing our hastily constructed plan still works alright even with the fact that Veuss is probably gonna hear about the fact that we know her location thanks to Ally's…probings.

Turning to the asari who was now stirring, I nudged my fellow Contractor. "Is she gonna be okay after that?"

"She'll be fine Wolfy." Indicating I should follow her, she dialed C-Sec's direct line for hunters. "It was only an extremely shallow meld so she should be-"

"You pureblooded bitch!"

"Just fine." She finished the thought, winking at the woman as she gave the police our current coordinates. Well, that's one out of the way. Not the big fish we were going for originally but still, that'll be a nice little bit of money for the both of us to split which I am not going to complain about whatsoever.

 **LINE BREAK**

I change my mind, no reward is worth this. Looking around the Stasis Field I was currently trapped in, I thought about how exactly I was going to pay Ally back for this. Basically the Veuss chick who we were after because of the big reward was tipped off by that asari who escaped and now I was the one standing in a bubble as the woman stalked her way over, still crackling with the biotic energy that she used to originally trap me.

"It is always you humans who have to insert yourselves into situations where you don't belong, isn't it?"

She shook her head impatiently, stating the simple question more as if it was a fact straight out of a textbook. Since I couldn't really respond in any way thanks to my current status, the only thing I currently had in my arsenal to show my disdain with was a roll of the eyes directed towards her dramatics. Seriously? She's the one who killed a cop and now I'm getting lectured for my entire species wrongs? Not that we don't have more than our fair share of those, but still, it's the principle of the whole thing. I'm sure the asari have got their fair share of dirty secrets too when it comes down to it.

"This was just going to be a simple job." Great. She's gonna start monologuing now. "Use our contacts to break in, steal a fortune in credits and then hideout on Omega until the ripples stilled." Ah yes, good old Omega. The glorious shithole of the universe where all the scum of the universe went to lay low for a while, it's been a long time since our little excursion to that paradise. Come to think of it, I wonder what that drell that worked as Aria's muscle is up to these days? Last time I saw Ty was when I helped to shuttle him to the hanar homeworld, Kahje. Turns out the pirate queen doesn't like her own people going behind her back and helping people. Even if it wasn't exactly a direct betrayal, the Blue Suns were pissed as hell when they heard that we made it off planet mostly in one piece and that meant more work for her to keep the masses in check which meant in turn that heads would roll.

"…but he just wouldn't get out of the way." Oh right, she's still talking. Kind of got lost on a couple tangents in my own mind there. Speaking of getting lost, where the hell is Ally? It's not that I can't take this lady if I don't have to but shockingly, I'd rather not risk my own hide unnecessarily and fighting with superior odds would be a nice change from the normal situations I somehow find myself in. As soon as I see her I'll just Warp my way out and have a nice easy target to attack from behind while she's preoccupied. It'll be the easiest takedown I've had in my time as a Contractor.

Well, that was my line of thinking at least. The only thing that announced her presence was the clatter of a circular device that I quickly recognized, cursing loudly as I did so. Once again, I mused on how having a drell, "hired gun," for a dad who's able to teach you a few tricks of the trade must be nice because I didn't even notice her. Not that I was actively scanning but still, it was fairly impressive.

I slammed my eyes shut a split-second before the explosion of light and sound happened but unfortunately, the noise was one thing that just couldn't be helped as there was no way in hell I'd be able to break free in time. With ears still loudly ringing, I summoned a Warp and finally broke out of the field, opening my eyes to see Ally had already cuffed the target.

"You could have at least warned me!" Not being able to hear yourself does wonders for managing the volume of your voice. I saw her lips move and she tilted her head in the coy way she usually did when she was either flirting or trying to use her natural asari charms to get out of something but all I could hear at that point was bells. Lots and lots of fucking bells. "I can't hear shit!"

She stepped in close and put her lips up to my ear, probably having to yell at this point to make herself heard. "If I would have known you were a strong enough biotic to break yourself out of a field Wolfy, I wouldn't have had to do that. We could have just double-teamed her and got it done it that way."

"Please rephrase that." I thought it was loud enough to be heard but apparently it wasn't because she cocked her head in confusion, at which I just waved her off. "Just forget I said anything!"

She looked down at her omni-tool for a brief moment before moving in close again. "I've gotta go. Sasvin and Akihiro are going out to get drinks tonight and they invited me to tag along so I'm sure you can handle things from here right?" Holy shit, those two just need to be locked in a room together and get it over with already. The entire guild was aware of their little thing and I'm not sure what kept them apart, because clearly the Asian man didn't care at all that she was a batarian. Despite the dirty looks he'd receive from other humans when they were seen together out in public, he never cared one bit or treated her any differently despite the strained relations between our two species in general.

"Yeah sure, go have fun." I waved her off, still annoyed at my impaired hearing.

The next thing I knew, painted lips were being pressed against my cheek and Ally was retreating. But not before pointing to our prisoner and typing out, _"You sure?"_ on her omni-tool. I just nodded and sighed, I'm such a pushover when it comes to the women in my life. Whether it was Emma, Lia now, or even going way back to Talia and Chelsea, I just never could say no to a pretty lady. That's probably going to come back and bite me in the ass someday but whatever, it's easier this way I think.

"Well, looks like it's just me and you now." I threw the woman over my shoulder and brought her to the skycar I had parked just a short ways away. It was only a short way from there to the security force's headquarters which was thankfully silent of any complaining or screaming because of the flashbang that Selaptos had set off. I'll take the loud static of being too close to a grenade over a screaming bounty any day. In a rather bittersweet fashion though, the noise had worn off by the time we got close and although that meant a crying asari was now pounding my eardrums, being able to communicate with C-Sec personnel without screaming would actually be rather helpful.

As I touched down and began my walk in, I stumbled into a…not exactly friend, maybe acquaintance is a better word. "Vakarian!" The partner of the friendly turian I had gotten to know over the last few months walked determinedly by as I brought in my quarry. "You got a sec?"

"Oh, Wolfert. It's you." Well don't sound so enthusiastic about it.

"Hey what's going on lately with Medana? Haven't seen him or Finn in a long while, usually they stop by the store every now and then just to say hey."

His mandibles fluttered and his brow plates drooped in an expression of…sadness? "He quit." What? He seemed like he absolutely loved his job, I can't believe he would just resign seemingly out of the blue like that. There's gotta be something else going on. "Our last case went wrong in just about the worst way imaginable and…Finnelix was kidnapped."

I just made a noise of consternation and bewilderment as I stared at the turian officer. "Whu- what?"

"Yeah." He glanced away from me and his flanging voice was going absolutely crazy with subharmonics. I could read into turian body language by now, but their dual-tone voice was still fairly unreadable to me unfortunately, even though Daxy had helped me out a little bit. "When the two of us got pulled off the case, he refused to give up the hunt. Our superiors told him to either stop pursuing it or face termination and he chose the latter. I haven't seen him since then but if I had to guess, he's hunting down that bastard Saleon."

"Holy shit Vakarian. That's fucking awful." I just stared at him, completely floored by the tragic turn of events. "Is his bondmate…" I cut myself off, realizing that just about any species would react the same way. "Sorry, stupid question."

He glanced down at his omni-tool. "I have a case I'm working on."

His head tilted slightly in the politest goodbye I was going to get from the cop. "Good luck with that. I know you're not a big fan of me but if there's anything I can do to help out Medana…just let me know and I'll be happy to help. He's a good man and if there's a way to rescue Finn, count me in."

"I appreciate that." He looked like he was thinking about something he wanted to say before shaking his head and walking off. Since I didn't know Vakarian that well it would only be a guess, but if I had to put one out there I'd say he was plenty busy hunting up leads of his own, just in a more discreet fashion and unfortunately he didn't trust me well enough to clue me in. Frankly, that was understandable though, we weren't exactly on the greatest of terms like I said. "If I find out anything relating to a location and we need extra manpower, I'll make sure to clue you in. Frankly, I don't like you all that much but if it means saving Finn I can put that aside for a short while."

That was definitely the best possible way to put things so I just nodded and made my exit, nodding as I did so. "Roger that." I hauled off the asari and turned her into Citadel Security. "Contractor BK two-oh-one, bringing in my mark with credit for the assist going to fellow Contractor UB oh-oh-one."

 **LINE BREAK**

It was about three uneventful weeks later that I got a call from the guildmaster, Lismeni Selori. "Wolf."

"Liz, what's up?" Getting a call from the head honcho was like getting a call from your boss, as soon as you saw the name pop up you started to sweat a little bit no matter the situation.

"Sorry to interrupt whatever it is that you're doing but I need you back at the guildhall." Ah shit. Even if she's usually a pretty easygoing lady, you never want to get called into the principal's office.

"Like, now?" I winced. As far as I know, I hadn't committed any major sins as of late. That however didn't stop my mind from racing, just trying to think of something that I was going to be punished for.

"Yes Nate, 'like, now.'"

"Can you uh, tell me what it's about?" Hell yeah I was going to fish for information, anything at all was better than going in completely blind.

"I'd rather talk to you in person, it's a pretty sensitive matter."

"Am I in trouble?"

She gave a quick chuckle. "Depends on how you feel regarding what we have to talk about. Look, just get back here and come up to my office as soon as you can, there's somebody important waiting on you."

"Who is-" The call went dead. "Well fine, just leave that hanging above my head then. Won't be bugging me the whole time or anything." I quickly sent a message to Daxy saying I might be late getting home tonight and called for a lift.

It only took a few minutes to make it to the home of the Wyrwulves and walk in, taking a deep breath as I did so. The first thing I heard was the huskily feminine voice of the batarian Hunter-rank member of our guild, Sasvin Ben'Kopos. "Wolf's in trouble Ally, look at how nervous he is."

Her ever present companion who I hadn't seen much of since the job we'd pulled together, Allyna Selaptos chimed in next from the balcony overhead. "You're right Sass, his face is all red and flustered looking. I haven't seen him this embarrassed since I kissed him on the cheek after capturing Elesia."

"I'm sorry ladies, as much as I would love to stay here and chat," giving a little bow, I made my way into Selori's office, "some of us here can't get by on our looks and actually have to hustle for a living."

Ever the tease, Ally fired right back. "So you're saying you think we're pretty then?"

"What was that? Couldn't hear you guys." Opting to completely eject from that conversation before I could dig myself deeper, I biotically charged through the doors of our leader's office, ending up just inside the entrance. "Sorry about the strange entry boss. Had to escape the girls before things got too out of hand."

"No problem Wolf, I understand completely." She gave a light laugh. "Please," the bosslady indicated to the empty seat, "sit down."

For the first time, I noticed that it wasn't just the two of us in the room. I started to sit down next to the other occupant before realizing exactly who it was that occupied the other seat. "Commander Anderson!" Standing straight upright in a position that would have made my old drill instructor proud, my old Alliance habits kicked in as I saluted the man. "Apologies, sir! I didn't realize it was you otherwise I would have had a more professional entrance."

"At east Mr. Wolfert, you're not Alliance anymore." With an easy expression, he pointed towards the chair again. "And it's actually captain now."

"Well congratulations on the promotion then sir." Although I was smiling in a friendly manner, my mind was closing in on itself. This is it. I'm going to spend the rest of my life in an Alliance prison. Speirs finally decided to tell the authorities about my little incident with Cerberus and if the world has a sense of irony, I'll probably end up in the same jail I broke that murderer Kai fucking Leng out of. Still wish I would have caved that bastard's skull in on the spot, screw the consequences.

"Thank you Nathan. And I heard from Lieutenant Commander Speirs about your father and fiance's passing." He shook his head mournfully. "I didn't ever have the pleasure of meeting Emma but I knew your father and he was a good and honest man. Without a doubt, he deserved better and should have been honored for the hero he was."

"I appreciate that sir, it was definitely heartbreaking to lose both of them like that. They uh, they were great people." While the years passing by had cooled the violent fire that their murders brought, that didn't mean I still could easily just talk about them casually. The only one who could really draw anything out of me without completely making me clam up was Dax and he was sensitive enough to just let it be for the most part.

Back to Anderson though. Surprisingly, when he brought up Speirs, who also got a promotion I guess, I didn't read anything from the man. Anderson was a soldier through and through, not an actor or some fatass armchair general and if he would have known anything from Speirs about me there would have been something he would have revealed in his body language. Plus there would have been a dozen high N-ranking badasses next to him waiting to jump my ass, considering my past. Alright, that last bit might have been a bit of overestimating my own skills on my end but still, the captain would have at least had some sort of backup or much more likely, they would have just busted into our little home and taken me sometime in the night, peacefully and without much of a fight on my part.

"Well if there's anything I can do, I'd be happy to help." The husky voice man brought me back down to earth.

"The Alliance has always been like a second home to me sir, if anything I owe you guys." I tried to gently steer the conversation away from such turbulent waters. "I'm actually doing pretty well now, even though it was touch and go for a long while there. Lizzie's helped me out immensely with making me feel welcomed by the whole guild here."

"Well, speaking of that." He chuckled slightly to himself. "I've been talking to Guildmaster Selori over here-"

"Just call me Liz captain, I'm not in the military anymore thank the Goddess." She smirked. "I did away with ranks when they stuck me with this gig." For a couple people who had most likely just met, they seemed to be pretty familiar. I guess military ties can even carry across species and unite people you'd never really expect.

"Well like I was saying, I was talking to Liz and we might have reached an agreement on you doing a sort of favor for us."

I kicked back and looked curiously at the two. "I'm not opposed to doing some work with the Alliance again, might actually enjoy it. We talking teams work here as a private contractor, some kind of task force or what?"

"Something along those lines, yes."

The leader of the Wyrwulves interjected before Anderson took back over the conversation. "Have you ever heard of Eden Prime?"

"Of course." Pretty much every human alive had heard of Eden Prime. It was a colony hailed as a peaceful, farming paradise. A beautiful planet that spoke to humanity's ability to successfully spread across the galaxy. Basically it was a very important colony to us humans, especially politically. "Not sure what that has to do with doing a favor for you but I'm guessing you'll explain that to me right now."

"That's correct." He opened his omni-tool and sent me a file attachment that I'm guessing had all the information on it. "I know you probably won't read that though so I'll give you a short explanation of what happened."

"You know me so well captain."

"You do have a certain widespread reputation among the brass to this day." I couldn't help but smile, it'd been two whole years since my service time was up but I'm glad to know that I'd left a lasting impression on the head honchos. "Thankfully, it hasn't been leaked to the media yet but it's just a matter of time before this becomes widespread public knowledge which is why I don't mind telling Lismeni. Besides," he turned to the woman and gave a pearly-white smile which shocked me with its warmness, usually the man was as gruff as they come but I guess sometimes you've just got to play the hand you're dealt and he was doing that to the fullest right now which I could see Liz definitely appreciated, "I'm sure a former special forces woman like your guildmaster can keep a few secrets."

She grinned right back. "Of course David." Wow, first name basis huh? "Consider my lips sealed."

"Well then, to sum up the situation, Eden Prime was attacked a few days ago by a certain turian Spectre named Saren Arterius and with him was a practical army of geth. We're not sure exactly why, but we know he succeeded in interfacing on some level with a prothean beacon that was discovered there."

I opened my mouth to interrupt but he cut me off. "There's a lot to get through so let me finish the story first, I imagine you'll have a lot of questions and I'd rather get them all out of the way at once."

"Sorry sir, fire away."

He thought for a moment before picking up where he left off. "The situation was interrupted by a fireteam led by Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard." A massive grin spread across my face before I could stop it, please let this mean that I'm going to work with the fucking legend himself. "He was in the middle of being evaluated for Spectrehood and went down there to eradicate the geth and just find out what the situation was in general since we were almost entirely in the dark. The commander led his squad through the geth forces, fighting their way to the prothean beacon where in an effort to save one of his teammates, he got drawn into the device's range and a…vision I guess you could call it, was burned into his mind." The darker-skinned man shook his head at the recollection. "The images were a jumbled mess he said, but the one thing that was clear was giant squid-like ships destroying some sort of race of people."

I gasped internally at the man's description. If I had to guess, it sounds like the Lion of Elysium himself saw the same things I did or at least something eerily similar. Although all that really did was raise a shit-ton of questions about my own biotically infused hallucination back in Detroit.

"After that, we made our way back to the Citadel and are now currently investigating several leads here on station." The sound of Anderson talking snapped me back to attention. "I know it's a lot to take in but trust me, it's all true."

"No no, I've had some experiences in my past that line up with that, plus I know you're not the type to bullshit around. I'm just surprised that she's," I pointed to the guildmaster, "taking it all in stride."

"Well, when you think about it from my side it doesn't matter whether it's true or not." A sharklike grin spread across her face. "You taking this job is the best thing for the guild. I let you take a break from bounty hunting to do this gig with the Alliance, in return the Wyrwulves get weapons, credits and most importantly, a lot of great publicity for having one of their own working right alongside the Alliance's figurehead."

"So it really is quite the win-win then. The guild gets some great bonuses and you get me out of your hair for a while."

"Precisely." The asari winked saucily at me to show that she was only joking, at least somewhat. "So like it or not, you're going with the nice captain here at the end of the day."

"Wow. A choice in the matter would have been nice but okay." I leant back and turned to the N7. "Still don't quite get why you need me though captain."

"It's quite simple really. This mission is of the utmost importance and we're recruiting the best personnel we can to support the commander in his mission. A couple of the ground team members recommended we recruit you and I agreed with their choice." He got up, indicating that we were just about done here which annoyed me. Now I'll be stuck not knowing who it was that put me out there as a potential hire. "Saren might be violently anti-human but he's one of the best soldiers in the galaxy and now he's got an entire geth force supporting him. To put it bluntly, we need all the help we can get."

"Well at first I felt flattered but after that last statement, not so much." I got up to shake the captain's hand. "How soon do I need to be ready sir?"

"Tomorrow evening." He looked down at his omni-tool and his face grew almost weary-looking. "I'm sorry, I need to answer this. We'll go over all the specifics of your contract tomorrow when you meet the rest of the team at C-Sec headquarters."

My face felt like it would split with how wide I was grinning right now. "I can't wait to work with the Alliance's best again Captain Anderson, sir. You and the commander have nothing to worry about, I won't let you guys down."

"I've got faith in you son." He clapped me on the shoulder before walking out. "Despite your eccentricities," Lizzie choked out a knowing laugh, "you're an extremely capable fighter and that's what we need right now."

"I'll be ready. Tomorrow night at C-Sec HQ?" I questioned, just to make sure that I had the details correctly.

"That's correct." He fastened the military cap on his shaved head as he left the office. "Get everything you'll need and meet us there. Be ready to fight."

I flashed a more than eager grin at the man. "C'mon captain, when has that last bit ever been a problem for me?"

 **A/N: Welp, life has been officially crazy (which I get into more in the preview chapter last book) but I am now back in the saddle after getting organized to the point where I can write again. For the time being I won't be able to post every week but I'm pretty sure I can stick to a bi-weekly schedule finally which means the story is back up and running since I didn't want to do it if I had to post randomly. I'd like to apologize to all you guys for taking so long in between stories but thanks for sticking with me, sending me super encouraging messages and just taking the time to read this, hopefully you'll enjoy the next one!**

 **As always, my beta is the illustrious Ranger Station Charlie who has still stuck with me despite the longggggg break. He's even got a one-shot story of his own posted now so go to his profile and check that out if you'd like!**


	2. And it Feels so Good

"Daxy! Hey Daxy where the hell are you?" I ran like a little kid through Jack's Armory searching for my turian business partner and good friend of about half a dozen years now. The store wasn't honestly that big so it only took a few seconds for me to find him, huddled over his workbench and doing maintenance on the shin-piece of an armor set. As he swiveled in his chair to face me, I put my hands on my knees and panted from the effort of practically running the whole way home. I'd managed to keep a lid on my rising sense of enthusiasm and maintain most of the small amount of professionalism I still held while there with the captain and Selori but now that they were gone, it was all out the window. "Daxyrus Lenril you will not fucking believe the job offer I just got."

A few seconds of silence passed between us as we just stared at each other. "Well are you going to tell me? If you actually used my full name for once it's gotta be something important."

"Actually I was kinda hoping you'd just guess." My smile spread from ear to ear. "It's more fun that way, plus I get to drag out this high a little bit longer."

"Wolf. You do realize that your potential new gig could be literally anything in the galaxy, right? Especially considering your…unique set of talents."

That's true, I'd gotten a few job offers from some rather suspect sources before finally settling with the Wyrwulves guild so the possibilities weren't exactly narrow. "What would get me this excited about something? Or more importantly, who?" He tapped his chin with a talon in thought and I continued to hint my way around the subject. "Think about back when we first met…when I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life?" I nodded my head slowly while I spoke, as if that would help him reach the correct answer. "Remember what it was that made me join the Alliance Marines?"

His brow plates arched in surprise and his mandibles gave a little flutter. "Commander Shepard?"

My head felt like it was going to snap from the whiplash of nodding so hard. "I've got permission from Guildmaster Selori to take a brief leave and do some contractor work for the Alliance. And the best thing is that the mission is being headed up by Lieutenant Commander Shepard along with Captain Anderson, two of the biggest heroes humanity has to offer." I suddenly realized in all my excitement that I'd have to leave the Citadel for the first time since we'd packed up everything we'd owned in Detroit and settled down here. "Assuming that you and Lia can hold down the fort here while I'm gone obviously."

"Of course Nate." He swiftly dismissed the notion of me not taking an opportunity that I was clearly ecstatic about. "Lia's doing wonders with weapon building which has allowed me to take over more of the deal-striking business side so between the two of us, we've got it handled."

"Let's be honest, I haven't been much help anyway ever since I joined the Wyrwulves besides install a couple mods here and there when the workload gets overly heavy for you two."

He shrugged and grinned. "You said it, not me."

"You probably know me better than anyone else alive besides maybe Mitch." I took a seat on the other chair in the room, right next to him. "I can't just sit around a shop all day living a tranquil life and this is an opportunity that's once in a lifetime. Unfortunately, I can't say much about the situation, but trust me, you'll know what it is as soon as it leaks to the media which should be any hour now and this is gonna be huge. Like, galaxy-shattering huge."

The turian put away the weapon he was working on and looked at me, deadly serious. "I think this is the most excited I've seen you since you told me about proposing to Emma. If this is something you feel this strongly about then by the Spirits you should do it." Daxy and I rarely had talks that didn't involve ribbing each other constantly so when he was saying something like this, it was coming straight from the heart. "I'm not just saying this because you're a good friend or anything but you're one of the best damn fighters I've ever seen when you really focus yourself and I know you're capable of even more."

"Thanks Daxy, that means a lot coming from you." I thought back to Anderson's recitation of Shepard's vision and the feeling that had been bugging me since Detroit. How exactly I was gonna explain it to the former Cabal next to me was another story. "I think part of the reason I'm so stoked to do this is because of something the captain told me about what happened. Apparently, the commander interfaced with some sort of prothean technology they uncovered and he had a vision. The weird thing is, from his description it sounds like the same thing I saw when I was chasing down Blade back home. Giant, squid-like spaceships with huge-ass lasers absolutely wreaking havoc on everything around them. It's bugged me for years now and I feel like maybe this is my one chance to make sense of these images that have been burned into my damn head."

"So this is on a personal level as well then."

"Yeah." My solemn face evaporated and just like that, I was back to my usual mood. "I get paid by my old bosses to kick ass under the command of the Lion of Elysium, all while potentially finding out about a hallucination that's been screwing with me for two years now. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it but that thing's never gone away. Dreams are gone the moment you wake up but not this thing." I pointed to my skull. "It's right there, all the fucking time and it annoys me that I have no clue about half of the shit I saw."

"I never realized it bothered you that much Nate, you were so dismissive of it when you told me about what happened back there." He shook his head at me. "Why didn't you say something to me earlier?"

Laughing in a flippant but friendly manner, I explained my thinking. "What would I have said? 'Hey Daxy, this thing I saw when I held a Charge for too long's really fucking with me every now and then so what should I do?' Yeah, I could have gone to you but then what would you have done, hired some asari mind healer to snoop around in my head? Nah, I'm good on that one. Don't need somebody poking around in my skull, seeing all the shit I've seen, no thank you."

He just nodded, understanding my line of reasoning. "Have you talked to Lia yet?"

"Nope, I wanted to talk to you first." I peeked my head around to see if the quarian girl was anywhere near. "She around here somewhere?"

"Up in her room I think. She's been working like crazy and since we're closed for the day I told her to go get some rest."

"Alright, well I should probably go tell her the big news then."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." He leveled a no shit expression. "I'll start prepping all your gear for transport so take your time."

"You're the best Daxy, no matter what everybody else says." The turian rolled his eyes as I made my escape, taking the stairs two at a time and loudly announcing my presence. "Lia? Hey Lia where ya at? Got some news to break."

"I'm in here Nate." A voice echoed from behind a closed door. "Come on in!"

Making my way into the room, I took a seat on the bed as Lia arranged the room and put everything in order. "So I'll just break it straight to you, I'm going to take a job for the Alliance. One of my old superiors met me at the guild today and I'm going to be working with the man who indirectly caused me to be where I am today."

"Congratulations, that's great!" She closed the dresser and her already peculiarly sparkling quarian eyes shone a bit brighter in genuine happiness for me. "How soon are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Wow." Her posture recoiled slightly. Quarians were hard to get a read on at first because of the lack of facial responses thanks to the mask but the rest of their body language was like an open book, probably directly because of that other shortcoming. "This is very…sudden."

"I know. I'm not sure how much I can say about the situation but one of our colonies was attacked by a turian Spectre and the weird part is, he had an army of geth with him."

"Geth?" She exclaimed loudly. The robotic artificial intelligence constructs had rebelled against her race almost three hundred years ago and had practically disappeared shortly after that, well until now apparently. The fact that this prothean beacon had drawn them out of hiding made me believe even more that whatever this was, it was something big. "They've been hidden almost completely behind the Perseus Veil for centuries now…why would that change?"

"Sorry, I can't really tell you right now." Unfortunately, I couldn't break the news to her just yet. Alliance secrets were meant to be just that and until the news broke to the public, it would have to stay that way. Daxy was a Cabal so he'd understand the importance of the news without me even having to say a thing but with Lia, I'd have to be a bit more discreet. "Although I think it's just a matter of time until things leak and once that happens, I'll answer any questions you have. I promise."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She took a seat next to me and for a short time, we just sat there, neither of us really sure what to say. "So. Has Sen asked you out yet?"

Instantly, she became a nervous, fidgety mess before indignation overrode everything else as she shoved my shoulder. "Nathan! You know better than to ask about a lady's personal life…bosh'tet."

I just laughed at the response since it was exactly what I had hoped for. There was no way in hell I wanted what could be a permanent goodbye to be all somber and depressing, this was much more my style. "C'mon Miss Shar, I've seen the way you two go back and forth whenever she, 'just happens,' to be strolling by or needs some random weapon fixed." It did take me a little while to catch onto it but now that I knew, I was definitely going to give her crap about it. With a big grin, I peeked my head out so we could make eye contact. "You want me to talk to her before I go? Give her a little piece of my mind?"

"Nathan, don't!"

Before she could stop me, I held my omni-tool out and used my other arm to fend off the quarian who was now scrambling to stop me. "Too late." Activating the device's VI, I started to dictate what I wanted to say to one of the Wyrwulves Senior Hunters. "Send voice message to Senmia Narnianus."

My amusement increased exponentially as Lia's panic grew even worse. "Keelah Nathan I swear if you-"

"If I what?" I could only hope that the message would go through clearly since the flustered yelling of the young lady next to me almost drowned out my own voice. "Sen, I'm gonna be gone on a new job for a while, I'm sure Liz is gonna break the sad, sad news to you guys soon but I just wanted to send you a personalized farewell." Pausing for effect, I finished my note to the turian bounty hunter. "If you don't make up your mind about what your intentions are with Lia by the time I'm done with my mission, I will personally come back to throw you through a wall with my biotics. That being said, take care of the rest of the 'Wulves while I'm gone."

As I ended the farewell, I heaved a contented sigh as the woman on her pilgrimage next to me stared in absolute horror. "Please tell me that all of this is just a bad dream."

"Sorry." Scooping the shell-shocked woman off the bed, I gave her a giant hug before releasing her. "That just happened. You can thank me later when you two are nestled together-"

"Nathan!"

Something that did not look soft flew toward my head and I ducked before making my way out of the room, only peeking my head back in to offer a final few words. "Hey, in all seriousness though, if you like her then fucking go for it and stop stalling. It's always better to go for it and get rejected than wonder what could have been…even if things don't end up happily all the time, trust me on this one."

"Thanks Nate." She got up off the bed and threw the door wide, giving me a sisterly embrace. "I'll miss you while you're gone."

"You too Li-a."

The last syllable was gasped out as a three-fingered hand smashed into what felt like my kidney. That's low hitting a defenseless opponent like that…clearly she'd learned in the short time she'd lived with me and Daxy. "Stay safe out there."

"Hey I'm safer out there fighting the geth than around here where you get punched by quarian women with crushes." I rubbed my side exaggeratedly. "Keelah…whatever it is that you guys say."

"Se'lai Nathan, Keelah Se'lai."

"Yeah, that." I gave a friendly wink as I made my way out of the room to let her sleep. "Keelah Se'lai Miss Shar."

 **LINE BREAK**

Whistling happily to myself, I sat at the front counter of the store bright and early the next morning after my meeting with Anderson. I had worked late into the night in cooperation with Lennie, making sure all my weapons and armor were in perfect shape but being the person that I am, I had to put the final checks on everything personally because I'm neurotic like that. Honestly, it's a slight miracle I let him touch the stuff at all. I used to trust no one when it comes to maintaining my gear because like I said, I'm just sorta hesitant regarding leaving it to other people to make sure that the stuff my life literally depends on works when I need it to. 

I was in the middle of re-calibrating my Recon Hood to sync up with my armor, weapons and omni-tool when the good doctor Chloe Michel walked in. "Good morning Nathan." Taking in the sight of my carefree attitude, she tilted her head curiously. "You seem to be in a good mood today."

"Got a new job with my old military bosses so please excuse my rudeness while I look over this stuff here." I pulled on my Recon Hood and activated it, giving a contented sigh as the heads-up display came to life with bio-amp status updates, shield level readings, weapon heat levels, tactical armor readouts and all the good stuff like that. "Plus it sounds like I'm going to be able to fight side by side with one of my personal heroes so that's a huge plus." Yanking my mask back off, I gave a friendly grin as I noticed a quarian standing next to the woman for the first time. "My apologies ma'am, ordinarily I'd get up and give you a proper greeting but I'm kind of engrossed in my work at the moment so I hope you'll forgive me."

"That's no problem." She wrung her hands in what my time with Lia had taught me was the quarian go-to expression to show their nervousness. "Doctor Michel told me you might be willing to help me with something."

"Oh?" I simply arched an eyebrow as I checked each and every piece of the experimental armor set I had received from Cerberus a couple years ago. Thankfully, I had already done everything with my strange, almost chitin-looking undersuit which was safely tucked away in its case. Come to think of it, I haven't really thought up a legitimate excuse for how I acquired that unique piece of equipment. "I got it from Cerberus," isn't something the Alliance would want to hear I'm guessing.

The woman with the French accent reasserted herself into the conversation. "You remember how you promised me that if I ever needed any bodyguard work done, you'd be right there to help out."

"Of course." Setting down the chest plate on the kiosk, I gave an apologetic look. "Unfortunately, I'm actually leaving very shortly so there's not exactly much time for me to do any sort of protective work as much as I'd love to. The Alliance isn't big on being kept waiting, I'm sure you understand."

"Actually, I'm on my way to the meeting right now so it would only take up a short while of your time." The quarian girl hastily spoke before she quickly retreated from her statement a little bit. "If you were still willing to help of course, I can't exactly pay you for it…"

"There's a lot more to the world than money." I waved off her concerns. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about this bodyguarding though, I'm not exactly in the habit of just taking random jobs." Thinking back to one particular gig I'd done that I took in a rush, I couldn't help but add mysteriously to the statement. "I've found that it tends to get me into trouble when I do."

"Tali, I'll let you explain what's going on." The doctor clearly wanted to let her handle things herself. "He's a friend to quarians and no stranger to fighting if the bruises he shows up with indicate anything. You'll be safe here."

I interrupted Chloe before she could completely leave. "Why don't you go say hi to Daxy? He's probably just finishing up with breakfast and I'm sure he'd love some company."

"Are you sure he wouldn't mind?" Her pale cheeks flushed a light pink. "I'd hate to bother him if he's busy."

"Not at all, like I said I'm sure he'd be ecstatic to see you." The second of my evil plans to set up my coworkers romantically is now coming along nicely. "Make yourself at home doc."

"Thanks Nathan."

As she disappeared from the store and into the living quarters, the quarian in purple, whose name was apparently Tali, took a seat across from me at the counter. "So I think you were going to explain to me about this little assignment you need me for." My hand went skyward to interrupt. "Names first though. I'm Nathaniel Wolfert, but you can call me Nate or Wolf, both work…and you are?"

Even if I knew her first name, an official introduction still seemed appropriate. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

So she was probably in the same boat as Lia. "I see, well I hope your pilgrimage has been going well so far for you Miss Zorah."

"I'm surprised," her demeanor noticeably brightened, "most people don't take the time to learn anything about quarian culture."

"I hired a quarian woman who's also on her pilgrimage, from the Tonbay if that means anything to you, so I'd hope I'd have learned at least a little something about her people." Flashing a warm grin, I finished up the last piece of my armor and sealed the box holding it completely shut. That should do it for just about everything I think. "What kind of friend would I be otherwise?" When she hesitated, I tacked onto the end. "It's a hypothetical question, you don't have to actually answer that. Let's get back on subject though. What exactly do you need me to do?"

"Well…"

Once again, she started to wriggle uncomfortably, clearly this was an awkward topic for her. "I don't need the specifics or anything, just tell me what I need to do and how heavily armed I'll need to be." Glancing down with an almost longing look, I suddenly made up my mind. "Actually, I'm gonna completely suit up just to get ready for my return to action so forget that last one."

"Well, hopefully you will not need to fight anyone. If it goes well all that will happen is I turn over the information I have and that will be the end of it."

"Well, what do you need me for then?"

My new prospective client's hand instinctively flew to her stomach. "Well, I'm not sure who did it," she is absolutely lying out of her ass right now, "but someone sent an assassin after me and I was shot in the attack."

If she didn't have that gut reaction when I asked why she wanted to hire me, I would have suspected a trap immediately so either she's a fucking phenomenal actor, or she doesn't completely trust me. If I had hitmen coming after me, I definitely would not be sharing information that could potentially get my ass murdered so I can't say I really blame her which means I'll go with the latter…for now at least. "And you'd rather not have it happen again so you need me to beat the shit out of anyone who tries to screw with you when this deal goes down. That about right?"

"I wouldn't have put it quite that way but sure, I guess that's close enough." She shrugged as her voice finished filtering through her mask.

"Alright, so let's get down to the specifics now." I put on my serious face as I leaned forward on the counter. "If I'm going to be your bodyguard here, I'll need to know just a couple more things. Again, you don't need to tell me every deep, dark secret but I'll need to at least know," I sprung a finger forward at each detail, "who you're meeting with just so I can have some idea of what they might pull, where we're going to meet them so I can scout the location for potential ambushes and also, if you're capable of contributing at all in a fight. Last one first."

"Alright." She straightened up. "I can handle a shotgun and pistol fairly well, plus to back that up I've constructed a few combat programs for my omni-tool."

"So you're good with pistols, shotties and tech, got it." As I repeated her words, I was starting to compile a sort of mental list. "And again, who are you turning this info over to? I don't need to know what it is or how you got it and honestly, I don't really care that much but if you expect me to protect you then I'll need to know this much at least. You're not paying me, but my reputation is on the line here so I'm treating this just like I would any other mission for which I'm being monetarily compensated."

"That's fine, I'm meeting Fist and the Shadow Broker in an alley near Chora's Den."

My eyebrows raised at the last one. I was well aware of who both of them were and both spelled trouble for vastly different reasons. The first one was because Fist was a well-known piece of shit who was only not currently in jail because of rumored bribes and connections to people in high places. As bad as that was, the second was somehow more ominous. The Shadow Broker was an almost mythical figure who purportedly had information on just about everything and everyone, to go along with the fact he, or she, actually I'll just go with it, had his own rumored private force of elite commandoes. Oh and I almost forgot the best part, nobody knew who it was because of the fact that it never met anyone in person, opting to deal only in proxies.

"Lemme get this right…you're saying that the Shadow Broker is going to personally meet with you?" I stared at her facemask, trying to let her know the ridiculousness of the statement as she nodded confirmation. Now I'm thinking she's either gotta be incredibly naïve or she really is trying to set me up and is just doing a God-awful job of it. "You're going to personally deliver this stuff to him face-to-face…in person…man to man?"

"Well yes, that's what Fist told me at least." The tone of my voice and obvious disbelief, was now starting to make her think twice. "But from your reaction, it seems like I shouldn't have believed him."

"There's two things that should have tipped you off." Once again, I started another list. "The first is that the Broker never, ever, under any circumstances meets with anybody, anywhere. At least not that I've ever heard of and I have a few fairly powerful connections of my own."

"What's the second?"

"Fist is a colossal freaking douchebag." He must have really thought that he could pull one over on this quarian girl if he told her that the motherfucking Shadow Broker was going to meet with her. This just reeks of betrayal…it's a good thing that she came to me because I would bet my career on the fact that she's going to be attacked and most likely killed at this little meet-up if nobody intervenes. Just what the hell did she get a hold of that would make Fist misuse the most important person in the galaxy's identity? He's a complete dumbass if he doesn't think that this is gonna snapback on him and I really hope to be there when it does because despite his shadiness, the broker is at least known for following through on his deals which is both reassuring and terrifying at the same time.

I took the armor that I had just meticulously packed away, stepped into the other room so I was out of sight and began to change. "Trust me on this, you'll be glad that I'm there to back you up if and when the shit gets real so you should thank the doc for bringing you here. Now I'm not saying that you can't handle yourself in a tussle, but I've been trained at a rather high level so between the two of us, we should be able to handle whatever we come across at this meeting."

"How high of a level?" Now she was just genuinely curious. "From what the doctor said, she made it seem like you weren't exactly an ordinary Marine, even though she was a bit vague about it."

"The highest." It wasn't a boast. Seven was literally the highest rank in the Alliance Special Forces. "Look up, 'Nathaniel Wolfert,' and there should be plenty for you to look at regarding my service time. And that's just the declassified stuff that the public's got a hold of in one way or another."

It only took her a few seconds to comb through enough material to satisfy any questions she had about whether or not I could handle escort duties. "Alright, let's go to this meeting then."

Stepping out in full armor, I went through a final weapons check. "Right behind you Miss Zorah."

 **LINE BREAK**

"Alright, so here's the deal." I had finished my scan of the alley and came up with a simple plan that would allow her to successfully make the deal on the small chance she wasn't going to be backstabbed but if they did try anything, I'd be right there to back her up. "I'm going to wait in this little corner right here where I can survey the entire thing. Whichever way they come, I'll have a great view of their approach and depending on their numbers will handle things accordingly."

For the situation, the young quarian woman was actually surprisingly calm. That's great, hopefully it means she's got a little spunk considering we're talking about her potentially being in immediate danger of being perforated by unfriendly bullets. I mean, I'm used to this kind of thing so this is same shit, different day but she's got no formal military training if quarian military carries themselves at all like humans do. Even between species there's a certain air that comes with being in the armed forces and she definitely lacked it, although that didn't mean she wasn't necessarily dangerous in her own right. "Right. So I'll be conducting the meeting and if things start to go wrong…"

I pantomimed throwing an attack from the omni-tool. "You hit the bastards with an Overload. Don't say anything out of the ordinary, just bam, nail 'em with the good stuff and I'll come in after that with a Bio-Cade to make sure you get into cover safely. Depending on how many men there are, we'll improvise from there." Before I pulled on the Recon Hood, I arched an eyebrow. "And you're sure you can handle this? You won't freeze up or anything because if you don't wanna fight just tell me and I'll deal with these-"

"I can handle it." She declared almost fiercely. "Look, I appreciate you helping me with this but that doesn't mean I'm helpless or some damsel in distress."

"Alright, alright, I got it. You're a fucking badass." Raising my hands in defense, I pulled out my pistol and checked it for the twentieth time. "It's just, killing somebody's kind of a big deal." I could see her silver orbs roll through the visor at my intentional understatement. "Whatever the circumstances are, I'd rather not put anyone through it who doesn't have to be."

She nodded slightly. "Well, I appreciate the thought but this is something I have to do. Part of the pilgrimage is proving you can be of worth to the Flotilla and that means defending it if necessary."

"Well then, I respect your determination." I gave a slight nod as the sounds of stomping feet indicated that the meeting was about to be underway. "Remember." She peeked out and I grabbed her shoulder, giving a few final words of advice. "Don't give away the fact that you're going to attack if you're sensing their motives aren't entirely honest. Hit them with the overload, I'll step out to get up a biotic wall and then we'll take care of business, we clear?"

"Got it."

She took a deep breath and resolutely stepped forward to meet the three oncoming men, who were very mercenary looking I might add. The turian leading the two other salarians was the first to speak. "Have you got the data?"

"Maybe." She glanced around as if looking for someone else. "Where's the Broker and Fist? I was told they'd be meeting with me and I won't give the info to anyone until one of them is here in person."

The leader sidled up next to her and of everything he could do, the pervy fuck traced his talon along her arm. I readied myself to jump in and I was honestly surprised Tali didn't just blast the bastard away right then, but instead she only slapped his hand away before taking a couple steps back. "Hey relax, they sent us instead. We'll take that data off you and make sure it gets into their possession."

She reiterated her position and I could see her middle finger slowly flex, my estimation of her abilities going up almost instantly. Smart tech-based fighters programmed their attacks to simple hand gestures so they could make their move in the blink of an eye without needless button pressing. Granted, I wasn't one of those omni-tool whiz kids but I'd fought next to Woley long enough to understand the significance of the seemingly meaningless little movement. "I'm giving the data to either Fist or the Shadow Broker and no one else, understand?"

The turian snarled in an almost feral manner at the quarian woman standing in defiance. "Stupid bitch-"

That was the only words he got out as the next instant, an arc of coursing energy slammed into his body, staggering him and dropping his shields. Well, that's my signal.

Announcing my presence, I pivoted off the wall and thrust my hands forward, a purple shield instantly separating us from the three attackers on the other side who had begun to fire indiscriminately. It only took a second for Tali's voice to crackle in my earpiece over the suddenly chaotic alleyway. "I'm in cover Nate."

"Dropping Bio-Cade!" Swiveling back behind a large dumpster, I pulled out my pistol and ventilated the chest of a salarian who stupidly decided to attack before his shields had recharged fully. It only took three shots to leave him a writhing mess on the ground with green blood spurting out of the holes in his armor. "One down. How you doing over there?"

I glanced over to see her slam the leader with a Carnage round in the legs that knocked him to the ground, before finishing him off with a burst from her own pistol. "Fine over here. Just one more left."

Ducking back behind the metal surface to avoid a burst of assault rifle fire, I looked back to Tali. "You got an Incinerate module set up on there?" She quickly nodded. "Hit that wall where he's hiding to force him out and I'll finish it on three. One, two, three."

A ball of flame smashed into the side of the alleyway as I sprang forward, closing the gap with a Charge. Using my own momentum to my advantage, I grabbed the salarian's helmeted head and crashed it into the ground to stun him before finishing the fight with the shotgun blast-like biotic Palm Crush to his skull which was still locked firmly in my grasp.

The short but brutal fight now over, I surveyed the scene only to see the first salarian that I had put three rounds into still moving around. "Look the other way for a sec Tali." As she craned her neck, I pulled my pistol out slammed a single bullet into the head of the struggling salarian, putting him out of his extremely pained state. It might be harsh but I'd seen too many good men and women killed by an opponent on the cusp of death to let it happen again. "Well, so much for that I guess. Not gonna say I told you so but…"

"Bosh'tet." She didn't even really hear what I was saying, did she? At least she's handling the bloodshed fairly well, seems like she's actually seen a bit of fighting before because usually there's a much higher level of shock associated with the first fight. "I can't believe Fist set me up!"

"Hey look," I grabbed her by the shoulders to indicate how serious I was about this "I don't know what the hell you got a hold of that's got hitmen lining up to kill you but you seem like a really nice girl and I'd hate to see something happen to you. After tonight I won't be able to physically help you anymore so please just listen and take my advice on this." I paused and took a deep breath before staring at her earnestly. "Go to the Alliance alright? I've got friends that are high up in the ranks, they'll make sure that stuff gets into the right hands and that you're protected from any more attackers. Just tell them my name and I'll be able to pull a couple favors." Once again, loud running alerted the two of us to new challengers. "Provided we get through this next fight of course. From the sounds of it, there's a little more than three coming after us."

"Same strategy?"

"Yeah, same deal." As the first helmeted head peeked into view, I threw up a biotic fence. "If I tell you to run, then fucking do it though. I'll hold them off."

"I'm not going to leave you to die after you just helped me without even asking for payment you bosh'tet." Wow, I'm already getting, 'bosh'teted.' I really should have asked Lia exactly what that means because with as many times as she mumbled it under her breath at me, it just should have been something that I know by now I think.

"Relax, I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Takes more than a couple cheap rent-a-thugs to get me worried." I gave an eager grin. "Besides, I fight better solo, no one to get in the way." Also, I could just Charge out of there once I bought her enough time to get lost in the back alleys of the Citadel so I wasn't feeling too worried about it, even if things got a bit hot for me.

By now, the half-dozen oncoming fighters were only about forty feet away. Seeing me standing defiantly in the way however, they stopped in slight confusion as this was clearly not what they were expecting and I took in the opportunity to see what I was facing.

They appeared to be lined up in the standard Alliance diamond formation, which meant they had some sort of leader telling them what to do. Unfortunately, in the shitty back alley lighting I couldn't see much other than species and judging from that, it looked to be an extremely odd group. Up front was a krogan in blood-red armor next to a human wearing an extremely bulky looking set of black defensive gear. Two more humans, one male and one female, if I had to guess from the pink armor, made up the flankers. And in the back was a pair of snipers in Kuwashii visors, one turian and one rather short human with light hair.

Silence reigned for a few seconds before I decided to break it. "I've got a quarian lady I'm protecting who's got some valuable information here so how about you lovely gentlemen and lady," I nodded to the pink suit, "go right ahead and fuck off before things get nasty? I'd hate to add to the body count if I don't have to but I will if you make me."

The man on the flank answered in a commanding tone, one that was not at all amused by my flippancy. "We happen to be looking for a quarian as well, my sources say that she has knowledge that's crucial to our current objective."

Objective huh? Odd talk for a merc, although a fair amount of them were former Alliance as sad as that was so it didn't necessarily mean too much. "Which just happens to be?"

Biotic energy surrounded him like a coiling snake. "That's sensitive information. Without knowing who you are, I'm afraid I can't share any more than that. Tell me your name, what sort of information the quarian that you're protecting has, then surrender your weapons and we'll allow you to leave unharmed after securing all we need from you two."

"Well you see, as a lowly bodyguard, I'm not really always privy to the information my clients possess. However, I do take my job of safeguarding their welfare very, very seriously so I guess what I'm saying is," stepping forward slightly so I was now directly under a fading light, I made my intentions painfully clear, "you first tough guy."

That would have started shit instantly if the human sniper in back hadn't intervened, stepping in front of the biotic attack that was about to be hurled at me. "Commander, wait a second, please sir."

"What's wrong lieutenant?" I just stayed behind my Bio-Cade, considering making a move while they were distracted, the Alliance isn't the only organization that refers to each other by rank and I'm not taking any chances until I'm sure we're in the clear.

"I don't think the captain would be pleased if you killed our newest freelancer before we could even sign him on." He whirled to me and something clicked in the back of my head as I placed the voice to a very recognizable face. "You just have to start fights everywhere you go, don't you Wolf?"

"Maybe if you would have stepped in sooner instead of hiding in the back like usual, this could have been avoided, **Lieutenant Woley**." I stared at the blonde for a few seconds before cracking under the pressure of trying to keep a straight face. In the blink of an eye, I crossed the space between us and practically picked him up in a brotherly hug. "What the hell are you doing here Mitch, you old bastard?"

"Hunting down some info, like Commander Shepard was trying to say before you went full asshole on us."

Suddenly, I blanched at realizing my mistake. I had just basically told the Lion of Elysium, my hero from the time I was nineteen, to go fuck himself. Talk about a great first impression. "You're working with Commander Shepard…" Pulling off my Recon Hood and tucking it into my armor in horror, I pointed to the helmeted man. Only now could I see the Alliance and N7 logos that were emblazoned on some of the crew's armor. "Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard…humanity's poster boy."

"Mr. Wolfert." The helmet folded into his armor and he strode forward to close the space, allowing me to take in his extremely familiar closely cropped blonde hair and steely gray eyes. "Sorry about the rude greeting."

"No problem at all commander sir, you were just doing your job." I was just grinning like a madman as Woley sighed, knowing full well my fanboy feelings about the man. Glancing around, I took in the squad. "So Captain Anderson said you were assembling the best of the best, I'm assuming this is them."

"That's correct, it's an elite group that you are now a full member of as of this moment." He extended his hand with a welcoming but professional grin. "It's a bit earlier than expected but welcome to the team Mr. Wolfert."

 **A/N: Well it feels really good to be back and posting on a semi-regular basis. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the introduction of M!Shep and re-introduction of Woley. There was no way in hell that I was going to leave what's one of my favorite characters to write on the sidelines for the entirety of ME1, I've hinted a bit about how the order of things are going to be slightly shaken going forward and this is just one way that Wolf has significantly impacted the ME-verse.**

 **Also, sorry about posting so late in the day but work was just insane so this was the first chance I had. Hopefully it was worth the little wait!**

 **Review Answering Portion:**

 **Hadian: Hahaha, congrats on your status as first!**

 **RomanceDagger: Thanks buddy, it's really nice to be posting again so I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Stonewolff: No problem man, I never intended to stop writing this out, it's just life got super busy and in the way for much, much longer than I thought it would.**

 **GJD: Glad to hear it man!**

 **TRB: Thanks for the review, it's nice to hear you liked it!**

 **RSC: No problem at all buddy, I hope those exams went well for you and the furniture wasn't too heavy, lol.**

 **The Guest: Yes sir it is, I've been able to stick to the bi-weekly for one chapter now so we'll see how long I can keep it up.**


	3. Meet My Team

"Welcome to the team Mr. Wolfert."

The handshake ended and trying to maintain a slight sense of calm, I called my newfound quarian companion over. "Hey Tali, it's safe. I know these guys, they're alright."

As she stepped out from behind a dumpster that had served as makeshift cover, the N7 Adept took the initiative in formally introducing himself. "My name's Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard."

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

The soldier dipped his head. "I'm sorry we were late arriving Miss Zorah, my team and I were held up by Fist's thugs on the way here," he pointed to the three dead men on the ground, "but I'm glad to see you two were able to defend yourselves without injury until we arrived."

"She's not bad with a shotgun commander." I gave an approving nod. "Between that and her tech attacks, she more than held her own."

"Thank you Nathan." At the compliment and sudden attention from the entire group, she wrung her hands nervously. If the mask wasn't there I'm sure a blush would have been obvious for the world to see too.

"I understand that you have some data that we might be interested in?" Caleb tried to get the conversation back on track. "The Spectre Saren Arterius attacked the colony of Eden Prime and I was told by Doctor Michel to get in contact with you. She said you might be able to help me."

"Of course, it'd be my pleasure."

She sped through her omni-tool's databases with lighting speed and before I knew it, a sinister flanging voice leaked through the speakers. "Eden Prime was a major victory, the Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

The Alliance hero looked pensive for a moment. "That first one was Saren, I recognize the voice, but I don't know the second one."

"Sir." Mitch stepped up beside him. "My suggestion is we should bring this information to the captain right away, we can deliberate what to do once we've regrouped with him."

"You're right." He turned to Tali. "Do you mind coming with us and presenting this information to my superiors? It could be absolutely crucial in bringing this traitor to justice. I'm sure the Alliance will compensate you extremely well for bringing this crucial info to light."

"That's not necessary." She shook her head vigorously. "I'm currently on my pilgrimage, a rite of passage where we prove our worth to the Flotilla and I can think of no better way than to help you with this, free of cost."

"That's very noble of you." His voice completely sincere, he continued. "Let me introduce you two to the rest of the team."

One-by-one they began to file forward and introduce themselves, the first being someone I already knew well. "First Lieutenant Mitchell Woley. Team sniper, tech expert and the commander's right hand man when it comes to field duties."

"You forgot to add, 'chaser of asari everywhere,' to your little list of titles." I just grinned at the shorter man who had stood by my side in countless battles.

"Thanks for that Wolf. Really appreciate it."

Tali just looked from me to him. "I take it that you two know each other?"

"That's correct Miss Zorah." He slugged me in the shoulder, causing me to stagger back a bit. "I've had the misfortune of knowing Wolf here since Boot Camp, we've been through a lot of shit together."

The commander kicked us into gear after that, the eight of us making our way through the wards as the introductions continued. Next one up was the human-looking personage in the bulky armor, as it's helmet folded back into the armor, I gave a smile of completely genuine happiness. "Richard Leroy Jenkins! What the hell are you doing here too ya big fuck-up?"

He snapped to attention with a goofy grin on his face. "It's good to see you too sir!"

I surveyed his armor at a glance. Well at least the commander definitely had the tactical awareness to realize the kid was a natural tank and that was his strength in combat. He might not be the brightest soldier you'd ever meet, but he was a dependable shot with a rifle and strong as a fucking bull too. Mitch and I always thought it was God's way of compensating for the shortcomings upstairs. "So you're a corporal now huh? Congrats Jenkins."

"Thanks sir. I owe it all to you and Mitch."

"Jeez kid, cut it out with the, 'sir,' crap. I'm a freelance contractor which means I don't have a rank anymore." It'd been years since I'd trained him back on Elysium and I could tell he'd made that time count, the young man looked more confident than ever. I always thought of him as one of my most promising pupils, a team player and real hard-worker despite his previously mentioned limitations in the cranial department so I was glad to see he'd made something of himself. "You're gonna make me feel like an old man, alright? Cut that shit out."

"Got it sir!" He saluted once more and I suppressed a laugh, some things just don't change. For some reason, Mitch and I had always been heroes to him despite our best efforts to not come off as superior to our kids in any way. I guess our association with Torfan and N status just overrode some of that even though to most it was a rather dubious distinction. "It'll be an honor to work with you again."

I clasped his hand firmly. "I can't wait to see how much you've learned corporal."

"I just hope I don't disappoint you, si-," I gave him a look, "Wolf."

"Much better kid." Shit. I'm starting to feel like my old man now, referring to people as "kid." If I'm gonna make him stop calling me sir I might have to do something about that…at a later date though, right now the instincts from my teaching days are coming back in full force thanks to this wave of nostalgia.

The kindhearted living bulwark shyly introduced himself to Tali as the procession continued. "This is the last member of the Alliance on our active roster, she joined us on Eden Prime during the attack itself. Wolfert, meet Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams."

Unlike the last two, she didn't appear too pleased to see me. In fact, I'd say it was pretty much the opposite. Instead of addressing me face-to-face, she turned directly to her CO. "Commander Shepard sir, no offence meant but are you sure it's smart to bring the Butcher of Torfan onboard for a mission like this?" Ah great, should've figured my history would rub somebody the wrong way. Good to know this is still the same old Alliance I know and love after all. "All the reports say he's a loose cannon who doesn't work well with others, is an extremely vicious and uncontrollable combatant to go with the fact he has no regard for his superior officers. Plus, now he's a freelance killer…who knows where his loyalties lie?"

The commander started to speak but I interrupted. "Sorry to cut you off commander but I'd like to defend myself if that's ok with you?"

"Go right ahead Wolfert."

"First off, I'm a bounty hunter not some sort of a damn hitman. Assassins kill people for money, I only beat the shit out of them before turning them in alive and in one somewhat battered piece." Staring down the black-haired woman in the pink and white armor, I put on what I liked to call my, "all-business," face. "Look chief, those, 'reports,' you mentioned are true. In general, I can be a sarcastic, unfeeling ass who rubs people the wrong way a good portion of the time. But I'll also tell you this, there's no person you'd rather have next to you in a fight when the shit gets real. I've killed more of the scum that roams this galaxy than you could count, survived the deadliest scenarios you could think of and I have the fucking scars to back it up." Pointing over my shoulder to Mitch's general direction, I continued flaunting my achievements. Even if she can't stand me personally, I'll at least make her understand what I'm capable of in a firefight. "If you **really** think I'm some kind of psychotic killer who's going to turn on you at the first chance I get, just talk to the lieutenant over there. He knows me better than practically anyone alive and he'll tell you, I'm as dependable as it gets. You hurt a teammate of mine…I'll hunt you down and make sure you don't leave that battle with your life, end of story. And as of right now, hate me or not, we're teammates, understand?"

The two of us just stared at each other, neither willing to relent until the commander intervened. "The lieutenant said he trusts him with his life and I'll have faith in his judgement in this matter unless proven otherwise. That work for you, Williams?"

"I'm still hesitant but I'll trust your decision on this Shepard. If you order me to, I'll work with him without complaining but that doesn't mean I trust him." She spun on her heel and walked away. "I just hope you don't regret it in the end."

…Well fuck you too. Why don't you tell me how you really feel?

A deep, rumbling voice interrupted my angry thoughts. "Urdnot Wrex." I started to say my name in response but was cut off by the behemoth of a being. "I know who you are human. A name like the Butcher joining the ranks of the Wyrwulves makes a splash that's hard to ignore." He extended his hand and an intimidating smirk spread across his face as he crushed my appendage in a claw-like grip. "I'm looking forward to seeing if your reputation is well-earned…or not." Alright. I really do not want it to be the latter for obvious reasons. "At least you might not be as squishy as the rest of these whelps the commander keeps around."

"I uh, I'll do my best to meet your expectations Wrex." It was my experience that krogan who'd become as grizzled looking and obviously battle-hardened as him tended to be people you did not want to fuck with. Ever. On the plus side, maybe I wouldn't have to pull solo bullet sponge duty for once, it'll be a nice thing to have a walking tank up there on the front line with me. "I've gone up against my fair share of krogan before so having one on my side for a change should be a lot more fun."

I returned his eager expression with one of my own and he chuckled, which sounded about like someone gargling rocks, as he walked away. "Just try not to disappoint me."

"I won't."

"Vakarian?" I stared at the last member to be introduced. "You're with Shepard too? What is this some kind of fucked up reunion party?"

"Garrus…you two know each other?" Caleb glanced from the detective to me.

"We've," he searched for the right, "associated in the past. As a bounty hunter, Mr. Wolfert here would occasionally turn in his marks to the department I was working in."

The commander sensed the distaste in the air almost immediately. "I'm glad to hear that some of the team already has such a sense of camaraderie, this fast. I'll make sure to put you two together so you can catch up on old times as soon as possible."

Both of us just stared, in awe of the man's treacherous ways. I thought he was supposed to be some sort of, "paragon of virtue," but so much for that shit. "Commander, I don't think that's a good idea."

Garrus heartily agreed with me, even if it sounded painful for him to admit. "I agree commander…" He searched for some sort of excuse other than the fact that neither of us really took a shine to the other one. I was a reckless bounty hunter with no regard for the law, at least in his eyes and he was a cop with a stick up his ass all the time for some reason. Thanks to growing up on the streets, my opinion of the police wasn't great already so that last bit was just the nail in the coffin. "Our fighting styles just wouldn't mesh I feel like."

"Nonsense." By now we were getting to the nice parts of the Citadel, the part I actively tried to stay away from because of all the snobby pricks. The areas around Chora's Den were much more…exciting, to say the least. You might get shot in a back alley, but at least they had the decency to not look down their nose at you first. "Wolf, you'll have to give me a rundown of your combat capabilities but you were Mitch's partner for a long time and as far as I can tell, Garrus and him have similar attributes when it comes to fighting." With an almost completely deadpan face, only a slight twitch around the mouth betraying his amusement, he ended the discussion for good. "You two will work great together, just give it some time."

He took a look at our surroundings, mumbling to himself that everything looked the same on the Citadel before turning to me and Tali. "I have to talk to the lieutenant about these new developments but Corporal Jenkins will catch both of you up on the current situation." Craning his neck towards the younger man, he let loose a yell. "Jenkins! Give these two a quick rundown of what's going on before we meet with the captain and Udina."

"Roger that sir," a knowing smile crossed his face, "are you uh, sure it's a good idea though to bring our entire crew to meet with Udina? Especially considering some of their past reputations." I feel like I'm being talked about right now.

"Hey fuck you kid, that's how you're going to treat your former instructor? Talk badly about him right to his face like this?"

Jenkins just grinned at me and Shepard was silent for a few seconds. "There won't be any issues will there Wolf?"

"Yeah, I'll be on my **best** behavior."

"Good."

"Now that that's out of the way." My former student jogged over to us and once again, I was amazed at just how well he moved in that heavy armor. The thing was practically like piloting a small mech, but he had a handle for it I guess. "Alright, so where should I start?"

He thought hard for a moment and well aware of how long this could potentially last, I cut in. "Uh, Eden Prime seems to be a sort of sticking point. Anderson gave me a brief summary but you wanna clue us in on what went down there from someone who was on the ground team and saw it all?"

He snapped his gloved fingers. "Eden Prime, right. Well I guess it really kicked off when a turian Spectre named Nihlus came onboard our ship, the Normandy. The official word was that since it was a jointly engineered ship between us and the turians, he was checking to make sure everything was running smoothly."

"Unofficially?" I was well aware of how the brass tried to spin things, being in similar situations to this guy Nihlus myself a couple times where every grunt on the ship knew I was there for some other reason but no one could talk about it. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

"Scuttlebutt was that he was investigating the candidacy of Commander Shepard for Spectrehood along with First Lieutenant Woley. Anyway, we touched down on Prime and went our separate ways. The turian, he went ahead to investigate just what the hell was going on and the three of us, meaning Shep, Mitch and yours truly, took the long way to help out any civilians. We were only a few minutes in when we came under fire from the geth."

"But the geth haven't been seen for hundreds of years, I thought?"

Tali cut-in at this point. "I actually came across some in my traveling, it was where I got the recording from. A couple of my comrades tracked a group of them until one isolated itself and when we ambushed it, I was able to get some of the data from its memory core before it fried itself."

The two of us just stared at this innocent looking woman with a shotgun in bewilderment. "You should have told me you were a fucking badass right off the bat and I would have made our plan of attack so much cooler and showier Tali."

Apparently still uneasy from getting praise, she fidgeted. "Um, could you continue with the story please Corporal Jenkins?"

"Yeah, sure. Apparently, the prothean beacon we found there was enough to really draw the tin cans fully out and in force then I guess." He shook his head as if reliving a bad memory. "I don't know what the hell kind of tech they developed alone out there but there's these spikes that turn ordinary people into…monsters for lack of a better term. Mindless, zombie-like terrors that don't stop coming after you until either they're dead or you are. Then there's the Wraiths…"

"It's alright kid, you don't need to talk about it. I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty of 'em in the near future." I grabbed his shoulder in a friendly, comforting gesture. "What happened after that?"

"Well we came across the body of Nihlus, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Civilian worker there said that Saren came across him and once he turned his back, he plugged him. No hesitation, nothing, just shot the man right in the skull. I guess they were friends too once upon a time which makes it that much worse."

"Why would he betray him like that?" Tali voiced the exact thing that was on my mind.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Judging from the commander's reaction when you played it Tali, I have a feeling that recording is going to come in very handy. We all want to bring this bastard down bad…the geth wiped out Williams' squad before we could get to them so you could say it's really personal at this point." Well, that explains a lot about the woman's generally pissy demeanor. Now I actually feel a bit bad for getting in her face like that. "She was the only one to make it out alive."

"Fuck. I've been there and it's a rough place to be. I only lost most of my fireteam so I can't imagine what she's going through right now."

"Torfan?"

I just shook my head and pulled out the kukri from my shoulder before showing him the name etched into it. "Three of my team died there and the other's never gonna walk again. Thought Mitch was gone too for a long while."

"She seems like a tough one though from what I've seen. I think Williams is gonna pull through in the end."

"I'll have to talk to her and see if I can help." I stroked my chin in thought. Dealing with other people's emotional turbulence wasn't even close to my strong point but if a teammate was in the turmoil the chief was obviously currently in, then it was my unfortunate duty to try and help her out. At least I had Mitch and Talia survive that slaughter from my team, she's got no one. I'll give it some time first though, right now I think I'd get a middle finger in response and that's talking best-case scenario. "Continue on with what happened though."

"Right, after that all four of us took trams to chase down the rogue Spectre. They had rigged the place to blow but Mitch was able to deactivate the things before they could be detonated but after that, things got even weirder."

"I…find that hard to believe."

My former student gave me a sympathetic look, realizing that the story was just a little bit on the extreme end in terms of believability. "I know, things have gotten really crazy, really fast. But anyway, we come across the beacon sitting there. Think Saren was trying to blow it up in the explosion, get rid of the evidence or something like that. Anyway, my uh, my curiosity got the better of me and I went towards the thing to investigate but it must have been just lying dormant because the thing gets this deep green glow all of the sudden once I get close and starts sucking me in, even after activating mag-lock on my boots."

"Dammit, this whole thing sounds fucking insane Jenkins." I just shook my head as we continued the trip back to the embassies. "If you weren't who you are and I'm not currently signed onto this whole thing, I'd have a really hard time believing you're not just fucking with me."

"I know, I have a hard time myself and I was there." He appeared to be finishing out his story now. "Of course, Shep's instinct as commander kicks in and he rushes forward, throwing me out of the way. So now the three of us are looking on as the commander is suspended in mid-air, basically having a seizure and screaming in agony. After a few seconds that seemed like a lifetime, the beacon just bursts outward with some sort of pulse of energy and he's knocked out cold."

"Wow." I mumbled more to myself than the corporal next to me. Looking over, I saw the commander talking to Ashley, Mitch and Garrus chatting about something, probably snipers from the looks of things and Wrex…doing his thing by himself. "Turian Spectre goes off the deep end, killer robots who haven't been seen in hundreds of years come back and ancient tech gets unearthed. No wonder Anderson said this was some big shit going down. He told me a little bit when we talked but I didn't get the whole thing like you're telling me now." Looking up at the Marine next to me who was scanning just in case of an attack as unlikely as it was in this part of the Citadel, I continued our talk. "So you guys headed here right after that I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He shrugged. "After getting shot down by the Council, we've been looking up leads on Saren and that's how we recruited Wrex and Garrus for the ride. The six of us raided Chora's Den in the ward looking for Fist and he ended up directing us to where you two were attacked. Fist however," he looked over in Wrex's direction, "didn't make it out of that place." I raised an eyebrow in question. "Point blank shotgun to the head."

"Nasty." I winced, knowing how gruesome that could be firsthand. "Well thanks for catching me up Jenkins, not sure what to think about half of that shit you told me but I have a feeling I'll be able to confirm things on my own soon enough."

He nodded. "I'm sure they'll run you through your paces first chance we get. Caleb especially will want to make sure you're capable of working with a team after all this time away."

We had now reached our location and as we prepared to walk in, Mitch dropped back to give me an elbow in the ribcage. "Fair warning, this Udina guy is somewhat of an asshole. Just try not to do anything too…brash in there alright?"

"Maybe it'd just be better if I waited out here…the last politician I ran into ended up in a stasis field." He grinned at the recollection as I thought for a moment before an idea struck me and I pulled my mask out. "Or I could just put my Recon Hood on you know, go incognito."

"Somehow I think that would draw more attention to yourself." The Infiltrator barked a laugh out. "Just stay in the back and don't say much, or actually just nothing at all would be better now that I think about it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Mitch!" I gave an overly cheery salute.

We were right outside what I recognized as the human embassy now from the symbols adorning it. "Listen up team, we're about to meet with my superior Captain David Anderson and Ambassador Udina. Wrex, Garrus, if you two have any business to take care of or finalize, now would be the time to do it so you two are excused if needed." They just waved him off, each in their own way signaling that they were fine. "Good, then I expect each and every one of you to maintain professionalism at all times, understood?"

For some reason, I felt like I was being singled out right now…again.

"Roger that commander." Mitch saluted as he spoke for the group.

Quickly falling into old ways, I sidled up next to him and jostled him as I passed. "Suck up."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the twinkle in his eye even though his face never moved. "Whatever. At least I didn't trade in my fatigues to become a merc like somebody in this room."

"Bounty hunter short guy, get your shit straight."

As we came face-to-face with a severe looking man in a formal suit, standing next to the, by comparison at least, warm and cuddly Captain David Anderson, he offered a final dig. "Close enough Scars, you beat the crap out of people for money."

"Wow, real original, it's been all of about two days since somebody's used that, 'Scars,' line on me."

Standing up straight, I tried to keep the grin from my face in front of some of humanity's most powerful figures. Apparently in my jousting with Woley, the political figure had already started berating the commander. "…gunbattles in the wards, are you trying to make my job as difficult as possible commander?" Yeah, my feeling that Udina won't be a new friend is shaping up to be spot on already. Gotta love politicians who think they understand what goes down in the real shit when they have no fucking clue. "And who the hell are these people with you, you're picking up strays now for your team apparently?"

The statuesque soldier stepped forward, indignant at the political figure who had just insulted his handpicked team of fighters. "These, 'strays,' are some of the best in the galaxy at their jobs and were kind enough to volunteer for a human mission and help us in bringing down Saren so I'd be careful how you pick your words." Note to self, never insult another teammate in front of him or that "Lion" side will make a very quick appearance. "We have Garrus Vakarian, a C-Sec detective of high repute who's resigned his position with the force to come help us. Urdnot Wrex, a bounty hunter and battlemaster with centuries of experience." Holy shit, if I remember right battlemasters are the general term for biotically gifted krogan. Now I can't fucking wait to get on the front lines even more, this is going to be amazing. I really am going to work with the best of the best again. "Nathaniel Wolfert, who I'm sure you already know of." By the squinty glare that was levelled at me, I'm guessing he did. "And lastly, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, a quarian on her pilgrimage who managed to salvage some extremely relevant information to our current situation at the risk of her own life."

"Well then." He appeared at least somewhat apologetic for his initial outburst. "Would you please share with us how you came across this particular data Miss Zorah?"

"I was traveling through the Crescent Nebula with a fellow quarian on Pilgrimage and we began to hear rumors of geth in our travels. Naturally, the two of were curious as they haven't been seen beyond the Veil in a very long time. After tracking them for quite a while we managed to find the patrol and between the two of us, pick off an isolated one from the group, disable it and extract some data from one of their cores-"

"Excuse me ma'am but I was led to believe the geth cores fry immediately upon their deactivation." The deep-voiced native of London, England chimed in. "How did you manage to avoid that?"

Tali turned to the older man and began to explain. "If you're quick enough, there's an extremely narrow window before everything is purged. My people created the geth, as we're so often reminded, so we know the ins and outs of ripping out anything we can salvage for the benefit of the Flotilla." I couldn't help but grin at the little jab she threw in. Girl's got some freaking guts, I'll say that much.

"Apologies for the interruption," Captain Anderson gave a slight nod, "please continue."

"Like I was saying, we retrieved the data core from a fallen machine and, well maybe I should just play it for you."

She fiddled with her omni-tool as a bright orange glow appeared and just a few seconds later a deep voice with a particular flange began to blare through the speakers for the second time in a short while. "Eden Prime was a major victory, the Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"That's Saren!"

Anderson interrupted as the turian finished speaking but Tali raised a hand. "Hold on, there's more."

A female voice that sounded both silky smooth and yet mature at the same time cut in. Now that I heard it a second time, I could definitely say it was an asari although beyond that I was at a loss. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"This shows that Saren was involved in the attacks without a doubt! The Council will have to do something now." Udina slammed a fist into his palm. "Commander." Shepard stepped forward. "Meet me at the Council chambers in a half-hour with a handpicked few of your team. There's no need for all eight of you there."

As the politician stepped out of the room, I offered an annoyed glance at his retreating figure. "Y'know, I got the distinct impression that he didn't really care for us that much."

"Well, at least there's something we can agree on." Ashley chimed in.

"Stow the chatter you two." Caleb silenced the two of us. "Woley, any suggestions on who you want to take with us?"

"Well, I think the ambassador was not so subtly hinting at who exactly should come with." Once again, I felt like I was not in the popular crowd for some reason. "So how about we have Jenkins take Wolf, Garrus and Wrex back to the ship so they can get settled in. Tali should come with us since she managed to secure the data initially and Ashley is a Marine so Udina can't object to her being there too much."

"Actually, I was hoping to speak with Mr. Wolfert on the way so Ashely can take his place and help Jenkins with the introductions." The grey-eyed N7 ran a hand through his light hair. "The sooner we get done with all this bureaucratic business the sooner we can start the hunt for Saren. I hate all this jumping through hoops and ass-kissing."

"I know commander." Mitch smirked at his superior officer. "Don't worry though, we'll be up to our necks in geth soon enough sir."

"Better than this all this stress-inducing crap." I like the idea that combat isn't stress inducing, dealing with politicians is…I knew there was a reason he's my hero. The commander looked to the group who wouldn't be coming with us and gave a little salute before turning back. "…We should go. Woley, Wolfert and Tali, you're with me. I'll regroup with the rest of you at the ship after we meet with the Council."

"Sir if you don't mind I'd like to talk to Captain Anderson for a minute."

"Go ahead." The commander waved me on. "I have to speak with Miss Zorah about something anyway so just don't take too long.

"Thanks Commander and can I just say, I'm really looking forward to this sir. I've been a huge fan of yours ever since that interview after Elysium so this is something of a dream come true for me."

"Don't thank me just yet Wolf." Once again, a slight glint spoke of the amusement hidden behind the sense of public professionalism that came with being an Alliance demigod. "We're gonna have plenty to deal with very soon."

"I sure hope so." Offering a hasty salute, I ran away to try and catch up to David Anderson. "Hey captain!" He turned around. "It's Wolfert sir, just wanted to say a quick hello before Udina dragged you off again."

"Wolfert, I'm glad to see you made it through that little firefight son." The dark-skinned man shook my hand firmly. "And you seemed to find your way to Shepard's team even earlier than scheduled. With what he has set ahead of him, every little bit can help."

"It was an odd set of circumstances but everything worked out in the end, even if it almost came to blows between us for a bit there."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me one bit." His shiny white teeth showed through as he gave a small chuckle. "It's good to see you with Alliance personnel, even if you're wearing…that."

He looked down at my midnight-black armor with the bright white wolf on the chest. "It's the Wyrwulves logo sir, you've gotta have the wolf somewhere on your designated hunting gear."

"You could always get it painted back on when you're done with this mission."

"That would take work though." I gave a cheesy grin and he sighed, mumbling something under his breath. "Enough about the armor though, I'm really looking forward to doing some teams work again so I don't know if I said it back at the guild, but thank you for signing me on sir. I'm honestly a little surprised that Shepard's been so accepting of me though, even with you and Mitch recommending me, my rep is still not the greatest."

"The commander's not the kind of man who forms opinions on other based on hearsay. He'll judge you for what he sees, not from your reputation or anything of that sort."

"Good to know." I turned my head to see Mitch signaling me to wrap it up. "Thanks again for this opportunity Captain Anderson, I won't make you regret it."

"I know you won't son, you've always done whatever it takes to get the job done and I don't see that changing now. Reign in that mouth of yours and you'll do just fine." His omni-tool began to ring and the name Udina flashed on-screen. "I've gotta take this, good luck Nathan."

"Well, it looks like you need it more than me right now sir." His lips parted in a knowing smile as he answered the call, a yelling Udina on the other end. I retreated to join my newfound teammates as he gave an apologetic wave.

"Wolfert, we're going to meet with the Council but on the way I'd like a self-evaluation of your combat capabilities just so I have some idea of how you'll mesh with the team dynamic."

"Of course, how in-depth are we talking here?"

"Preferred weapons and proficiency with each of them along with known biotic techniques." He cracked a slight smile. "The lieutenant said you're not much of a, 'tech guy,' so I won't bother with those. He said he had to show you how to create an omni-blade about a dozen times before it sunk in."

"It was more like eight." I mumbled lowly before going into detail. "Anyway, my go-to firearms start with the old standby M7 Lancer, then I've got an M11 for a sidearm, an N7 Piranha shotgun and an M96 Mattock with a long-range scope just so I'm not completely useless at a distance. Besides the omni-blade, I carry a kukri," I pulled the weapon out from the sheath on my shoulder before tucking it back so I could show off my other one, "along with a talon dagger that's capable of channeling a Warp through it."

"Wow, I've never seen anything quite like this, at least in person." He held his hand out. "Do you mind if I take a look at it?"

"Just be careful with it sir," I placed the weapon into his hand, "it was a gift from a close friend and it means a lot to me."

"Of course." The Adept took the weapon in hand, channeling his biotic energy through it as he gave a few cautious swings and stabs before handing it back. "So what attacks have you mastered?"

I started off with the more conventional ones. "Off the top of my head…Warp, Lift, Pull, Throw, Stasis, picked up how to Charge in Vanguard school along with the Bio-Cade-"

"I'm assuming that's what that wall you threw up in our standoff was?" I nodded at the man. "That's a neat little trick, could come in very handy in tight quarters to get some improvised cover."

I tried not to freak out at the compliment from the commander. "It's definitely saved my ass more than a few times. As a frontliner, it's nice to have when advancing, that's for sure and I can even use it as a sort of battering ram in last-ditch scenarios. Other than that though, the only other unique thing I've really picked up is my Palm Crush."

"Palm Crush?"

"Yeah." I scratched my hair awkwardly, realizing now that I was in front of the Lion just how goofy the names I came up with were. "Have you ever heard of a Salvo? Turian technique that fires a steady stream of low-energy bolts of plasma?"

"I'm familiar with it, yes." Stupid question. The commander was a tier six biotic, one of only a handful of humans to ever reach that level. I'd be surprised if he didn't either know it already or at least try to learn how at some time in his illustrious career.

"Well, mine is sort of like that in principle, except take the narrow cone that the Salvo uses and widen it out so it's more like a blast from a shotgun, then imagine all of them firing at once instead of in a stream."

He tapped his chin, probably thinking about how to best use my skills in battle. "I could see how that would be devastating." Coming out of his battle-filled clouds, he fixed his gaze on me. "From my understanding you've been fighting mostly by yourself these last few years so the Charge-Crush combo would work excellently. And if you could manage to take someone by surprise and grab their head…" He winced at the imagined mess. "Anyway, have you ever thought about adding a Shockwave to your arsenal? It's a series of cascading pulses that are infused with warp energy. Whatever gets in its way is either crushed, flung aside or flat-out dissolved depending on the strength. Some biotics who've mastered the technique completely can even ready it during a Charge which amplifies the force exponentially along with granting an additional layer of surprise to the attack."

"Sounds like that could come in damn handy for forcing enemies out of cover and into bullets or even more bio-support. Due to my lack of real long-range options, strongly entrenched enemies are an issue for me if they're at a distance."

"That's exactly what I was thinking." He pointed at me for emphasis. "Once we get situated on the Normandy, I'll work with you until you get it down."

"Sounds great Shepard." Once again, I had to try not to shout in joy. Getting taught a new biotic attack by the fucking commander himself, it doesn't get much better than that.

By now, we were practically standing outside the doors to the Council's inner chambers. "Alright, once again, I expect professionalism from all of you. This is a collection of the galaxy's most powerful figures and the fate of our mission literally depends on how they react. Don't give them a reason to view us negatively."

As we walked through the massive, immaculate room that was the seat of power for the Council, our path was blocked by a rather girlish figure sitting underneath one of the trees, her feet swinging back and forth in a carefree manner as they dangled off the side. Her face was unrecognizable thanks to the dim lighting but I could just barely distinguish the Alliance logo on the fatigues she was wearing and the, "N7," insignia that was there as well.

As she started talking, the commander covered his face and groaned loudly while the sweetly energetic voice just struck me as strangely familiar. "So a Lion a Butcher and a Survivor all walk into the Council chambers…"

"I don't think I've heard that one before." I couldn't help but snark back at the mysterious commando. "What's the punchline?"

The two just stared at each other for a few seconds before the commander's muffled voice echoed from behind his hand. "There isn't one." He straightened up tall and closed his eyes very deliberately. "How uh, how are you doing lieutenant commander?"

"Jeez…I know you've got your public reputation to uphold but c'mon Caleb, is that any way to greet your big sis after this long?"

 **A/N: Welp, better late than never I guess? I've still got three and a half hours before my self-imposed deadline would have passed but still, I'm gonna try to get them out a bit earlier in the day on Fridays going forward. Hopefully you guys have enjoyed this chapter and I am super happy about the reveal of a character that was hinted at (and briefly introduced) a really long while ago. Going with two Shepards is something I've actually planned on since the very beginning so I'm looking forward to getting onto the Normandy and writing crew interactions immensely!**

 **In personal news, my favorite childhood game has been reimagined so just know that while you guys are reading this, I'm probably on my eighth straight hour of Ratchet and Clank and I'm surrounded by a stack of Red Bull cans.**

 **Once again, thanks to my beta, Ranger Station Charlie for all his help and for being my sounding board for a whole lot of dumb ideas.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **RSC: Thanks for pointing those out my man, usually I catch that stuff before I post but I was in an absolute fog last time so I just flat-out missed it. Hopefully I'll be better this week because grammatical errors bug the crap out of me.**

 **RomanceDagger: Yes sir, the not-so-dynamic duo are back together again!**

 **GJD: Hahaha, F!Shep's gonna be a fun one too who rivals Wolf in certain ways so between the three of them the Council will absolutely have their hands full.**

 **11: Dude, thanks for the totally legal cookie! I'm hoping never to have to take that long of a break again which unfortunately means no more of the good stuff though…**

 **FalloutFan: Yeah I'm thinking about posting something like that from Wolf's PoV on my bio as if this was something he wrote down on a datapad because I completely understand where you're coming from after the long-ass break between books.**

 **I know man! I'm super excited about it too!**

 **FalloutFan(Review 2): Those are both really good questions so I'll try to explain them from Wolf's PoV. The first is that as an N7, unless hostages or info-gathering was necessary to the mission, he was outnumbered and his fighting mantra was always to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible so bounty hunting is where he has to restrain himself as it's not his natural instinct to just incapacitate. The second one is just simply that Wolf was confident he could handle whatever they threw at the two of them since if it was going to be an ambush, they would only expect a quarian girl and not an N7 with his full arsenal.**

 **I actually have that planned out as a definite scene between M!Shep and Wolf so you'll be seeing it for sure.**

 **Stormdragon981: Lol, probably not. My beta and I talked about specific outcome for a bit but he suggested an alternate plan that I really liked and will be going with that allows Wolf a bit of freedom as you'll see in the interlude between ME1 and 2.**


	4. Yin-Yang Twins

**A/N: So I am still alive and writing, there's an explanation for my long absence at the bottom if any of you guys care to read it but right now we'll get straight into chapter four.**

"…is that any way to greet your big sis?"

After my mind got over the initial shock of her words, it flashed back to the Elysium museum which held the Shepard display. I guess it did mention that Shepard had a sibling, a twin at that but still, I kind of assumed she wasn't military since it made absolutely no mention of it in the plaque, let alone the fact she was a damn N7 commando.

"It's good to see you too Wolf, shit it's been what…five years?"

I shot up to further examine her face that was now plainly visible and gave a little start. "Wait…Chelsea? You're Chelsea **Shepard**?"

"Please." She grinned as she pointed to her brother. "He's Shepard, I'm just Chelsea."

Without warning, Shepard's instincts as a brother kicked in and he whirled on me with a frightening glare. "How the hell do you know my sister?" Woah there buddy, cool the jets. I think that was the first time I've heard him swear since we've met and also, I am really glad that my only interaction with her was a brief few meetings when we'd run across each other at The Villa.

"Settle down bro, it's nothing of **that** sort." She tossed a wink as she stepped between the two of us before I was ground into a fine paste by the man's biotics. "We were just seatmates on the way to N school, that's all. I'm glad to see you and Woley made it through more or less ok."

It was funny I noted to myself as she waved at Mitch who was thoroughly enjoying the situation while Tali just looked befuddled. Now that they were both next to each other I could clearly see the similarities between the two. Both had strikingly light blonde hair, almost to the point of being white. Both had a face that spoke of constant danger and a hardened physique that showed being accustomed to it for practically their whole life. The eyes however was where they differed. Caleb's piercingly intense silver ones hinted at his duties as a public figurehead and the troubles that came with it while Chelsea's brown-green orbs were crinkled at the edges, showing that she took life's challenges much less seriously than the Lion of Elysium.

My musings were interrupted by the younger twin attempting to bypass the situation. "Look I'd love to catch up with you Chelsea, but I have a meeting with the Council that's extremely urgent."

"I know." She hopped up off the bench and practically skipped over to us. "Captain Andy said that I'm going to join up with your little team that you've assembled." I had to bite my finger to stop from busting up laughing. Seeing David Anderson's reaction to being called, "Captain Andy," would be something that I would pay good money to be there in person for. "He told me everything that happened so you don't need to catch me up on any of the details."

He mumbled under his breath. "Thank God…"

Ignoring his comment, the frisky blonde walked over to the other two members of the team present. "Woley, glad to see you're still as short as I remember." He gave a loud, "hey," of protest at that but once again opting to look past the comment, she greeted Tali. "Hi! I'm Chelsea, I hope my younger twin didn't scare you too much with all his cold, harsh military facts." Not quite sure how to respond, the young quarian woman just shook her head. "Good, he actually has a really great sense of humor despite the all-business persona he tries to present to the public. And also, can I just say that I am really glad to find out there's at least one other girl on the team. I'm sure we're going to get along great."

The three of us males just stood there in shock, watching as Chelsea Shepard linked hands with her newest squadmate and practically dragged the confounded quarian towards the meeting point. I said the only words that were appropriate at the time. "…What the fuck just happened?"

"Chelsea happened, that's what." Behind the gloved hand that covered Shepard's face, I swore I could just make out of a bit of a smile behind his pained expression though. "Let's go meet the Council before she does something we'll all regret."

As the now-five of us walked towards the podium where the Council was standing, Captain Anderson joined us. "Come with me, Udina couldn't wait and he's already begun presenting the information to the Council."

"You didn't tell me that you signed my twin sister on for this too."

I couldn't see his face, but I could swear that there was a sense of amusement coming from the captain which surprised me, he was usually all business. "I'm sorry commander, in all the recent developments it must have slipped my mind."

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." I'm getting awful fucking sick of this recording…if I never have to hear it again that'll be perfectly fine with me.

And here comes the sexy asari voice. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

Taking advantage of the silence in the room, the ambassador stepped forward as he pointed for emphasis. "There it is! You wanted proof of Saren's betrayal? What more do you need to revoke his status?"

"You're correct." The turian councilor on the left declared almost sadly. "I'm afraid the evidence is irrefutable. Saren will be stripped of his Spectrehood and every effort will be made to bring him to justice. He needs to answer for his crimes."

The asari in the middle now took her turn to speak. "And I recognize the other voice as well, it's that of Matriarch Benezia."

Finally, the commander got his turn to ask the question that was now on everyone's mind. Well, mine at least because I have no fucking clue who she is. "Just who is this matriarch?"

"Matriarchs are some of the most powerful and revered of my people. Their centuries of wisdom and experience makes them natural mentors, as such they are universally well-respected, Benezia especially so." She shook her head in an almost disgusted way. "I don't understand what caused her to ally with Saren but one thing is certain, she will make a formidable foe. Even for a matriarch, her skill with biotics is almost unparalleled and she has a practical army of loyal asari commandoes that will add to Saren's legion of geth."

The salarian who had remained silent so far, abruptly changed the subject. "I'm more interested in these, 'Reapers.' Just what do you know of them?"

Anderson was the first to answer the councilor's question. "The only information we have is from that geth memory core that Tali extracted along with the vision," at that, an almost audible eye roll came from the turian councilor, "the lieutenant commander received from the beacon. They were an ancient race of spacefaring machines that destroyed the protheans before vanishing from the galaxy practically without a trace."

"The geth view them as almost godlike figures." Caleb stepped forward to insert his two cents as the rest of us just watched. "And they believe that Saren is the prophet that will usher in their return."

The darker skinned officer nodded in agreement. "After putting all the information together, it seems this, 'Conduit,' is their main objective and must be somehow tied to bringing them back into our galaxy. We know now that Saren and Benezia are searching for it. That's why they attacked Eden Prime."

"But what is this, 'Conduit?'" The salarian continued. "Do we have any concrete evidence?"

"If they're searching for it, does it really matter?" The Lion of Elysium was growing visibly irritated at this point. It seems like his patience for stupid lines of questioning was not very large. "We understand now that it's crucial to their strategy and could possibly be related to escorting in the return of these beings. That means we need to stop them both before they can get to this object and execute their plan."

The apparent indignation that had apparently been building in the turian political figure this whole time finally burst. "This whole thing is completely ridiculous! You're telling me that Saren wants to bring back an army of machines that have previously wiped out all life in the galaxy just so they can do it again? Impossible. There's no way he would do something of that nature." He turned to his fellow council members as if for confirmation of his words. "Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish without leaving so much as a trace of their existence, except for these, 'visions,' you keep bringing up?" He spat out the word as if it was a horrible expletive. "Surely if they were real and not merely the figment of overactive imaginations, we would have found something in all our explorations."

Finally, I couldn't hold my tongue anymore due to this rampant stupidity. "Well apparently Saren and Benezia both think they're real enough to seriously pursue this thing so unless both of them have lost their minds completely, maybe you'd better rethink those words."

Suddenly, the entire room turned to look at me for a few moments of terrible silence before Caleb Shepard took control back of the speaking situation. "Listen, you didn't trust us when we told you that Saren was a traitor," a single index finger pointed towards the trio, "if you make that same mistake again you'll only regret it once and that'll be when he comes back at the head of an army of machines bent on the extermination of all sentient life."

"This is an entirely different situation commander." The asari woman, who seemed to be the smartest, most reasonable of the three, tried to defuse the currently escalating situation. "All of us here are in agreement that Saren and Benezia are using the geth to search for this Conduit that keeps being brought up. However, despite all our speculation, we still really don't understand just why."

The speaking ball appeared to be passed back to the salarian. "The Reapers are a myth and nothing more, Saren is simply using their legend to subjugate the geth to his will. What we now must discover is what his true intention happens to be."

Chelsea sidled up next to me. "Shit Wolf, these guys are like talking to a brick wall. I'm glad Bro's handling this and not me."

"That's hurtful to walls everywhere, at least they won't retort back with ridiculous statements."

"Since you three don't seem to get it, I'll repeat myself once again." By now, he was leaning on the railing, almost pleading with them to listen to his message of impending doom. "The Reapers have already eradicated all life in the galaxy once before with the protheans. If we don't stop them now. It will. Happen. Again."

The turian flicked his finger outwards in what I'd learned from Daxy was a sort of gesture of dismissal. "Saren has already been stripped of all the resources he formerly had access to as a Spectre and is probably on the run for his life now that we've found out his plan. He's practically harmless."

"That's not enough and you know it." For as big of a prick as he initially came off as, Udina did have some balls, I'll give him that much credit. "He's waiting somewhere out there in the Traverse. Make an example of him and send your fleet in, show the galaxy what happens to those who think they can defy the authority of the Council!"

"Tracking down a single agent is not a task for a fleet." For the first time, I think I agreed with good old Froggy the salarian councilor.

"Perhaps not but they could sequester the entire region." The human ambassador lowered his fiery tone a little bit. "Our colonies need to be protected from possible future attacks from these geth."

"Or it could send the entire Terminus into a frenzy even worse than it already is in. We cannot risk waging a galactic war over a few dozen human colonies!" He couldn't help but insert a parting shot that seemed to particularly put the grey-haired politician in an even worse mood. "It's not our fault that humanity insists on colonizing territories in such a dangerous area."

"I can bring Saren to justice." The entire room turned quiet, all eyes fixated only on the commanding presence of Caleb Shepard. When no one responded, he reiterated his statement, every word calm and stated in a perfectly clear tone. "I already have a fireteam assembled so give me a ship, let me go after him and I'll hunt him down until he doesn't have a dark corner left to hide in."

"Your confidence is noted commander." The asari turned to face her two fellow politicians. "And there does happen to be a way to bring him in that does not require the use of massive fleets or invading armies."

The turian, I really should probably learn their names as important as they are, interrupted her with a loud outburst. "No! It's much too soon. Humanity is barely a blip when it comes to their history and they haven't earned the right to join the Spectres and for that matter, I don't believe they can handle the responsibility."

"Who was it that exposed Saren's betrayal in the first place?" Shepard let his hypothetical question hang for a second before punctuating it with a confident statement. "We've earned this. Humanity is ready to step up on a galactic scale and prove our worth."

The three of them looked to each other for a few moments before pressing a few buttons on the display in front of them. " **We** ," she pointedly looked to her companions, "happen to believe you are correct. The time is right." Why is this asari the only reasonable one in the group? "However, you will not be doing this alone."

She stood up tall. "Commanders Caleb and Chelsea Shepard, step forward."

The perky blonde woman threw a wink at her twin who just tried to keep his stoic demeanor as seemingly from nowhere, the rafters above us were filled with people of all species. "It is the decision of the Council that both of you will be granted all the powers of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

With arms crossed, Lizard-man spoke up. "Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

"Damn, this whole thing is actually pretty badass." I mumbled to no one in particular as I started to get caught up in the solemnness and splendor of the ceremony.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol." The asari councilor lifted her head skyward. "The living embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

For the first time, the Bird-Man seemed to speak without either anger or any sense of a grudge in his tone. "Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"The both of you are the first human Spectres and as such there is a great deal of pressure on both of you. This is one of the major reasons that both of you were given this honor, make sure that you support each other so that neither one of you falls." Flashing a grin, the female Shepard elbowed her brother as even the councilors seemed to be getting absorbed in their role in the event. "This is a tremendous accomplishment for both you and your entire species."

The head of Commander Caleb dipped slightly. "Thank you councilors. We're both honored."

"So." Chelsea glanced around the room, seemingly over the whole thing already. "What do we do now?"

Just like that, the moment was over thanks to the older twin which made me laugh abruptly. With a roll of the eyes, the salarian answered her question. "Your team will be going into the Traverse to hunt down Saren wherever he runs to as the commander has already stated. He's now a fugitive from justice so as a Spectre you are able to use whatever means you deem necessary to bring him in, dead or alive."

"He was one of your top agents for years." Caleb spoke before his twin could do anything too disastrous. "Do you have any leads as to where we can find him?"

"Any files that we come across will be sent to Ambassador Udina. You can coordinate with him in your own embassy."

"Thank you again Councilor Sparatus." Well, at least I know one of their names now. Still have to figure out Lizard and the lady's though.

"Unless anyone has any further inquiries, this meeting of the Council is officially adjourned."

Udina stepped in and for the first time, sounded gracious. He's probably got fireworks going off in his head right now at the thought of humans not only getting a single Spectre, but two in one day, even if they'll be working together for the most part so the effect won't be quite the same. "We have none Councilor Tevos."

Holy shit, I've got two now just like that. So it's Tevos, Sparatus and Froggy. I'll have to work on that last one in the future just in case a situation ever comes up because I don't think they'll respond well to it whatsoever. Besides maybe Tevos, I don't think any of them has ever even smiled at a joke in their life.

Our little group reorganized and Anderson shook the hand of Caleb before being engulfed in an enthusiastic hug by Chelsea. After he recovered himself, he offered congratulations that the rest of us quickly joined on. Of course, it only took a few moments before Udina turned the happy mood back to a practical one. Once again, the guy might be a prick when it comes to manners but he seems to get the job done and in the end, I can fucking respect that in a man. Still doesn't mean I like him or think he's less of an ass though. "Shepards. We've won a small victory today but our work has just started. You're going to need a ship and a worthy crew to man it, not to mention enough supplies to last however long this operation is going to take."

"You should probably start by visiting the Spectre requisitions officer in C-Sec Academy." Anderson added some advice in his bassy tone. "They have the best weapons in the galaxy their and if you're going to bring Saren down, you'll need them."

"We get new guns!" The blonde woman turned to me with an absolutely ecstatic look on her face. I was a little bit of a gun nut but this was something else entirely. "Hear that Wolf, we're going to have the best firearms that money can buy in just a few minutes here!"

"Yeah…I was standing right next to you when Captain Anderson said it, you know." Not deterred in the slightest, she continued to grin madly.

"Anderson, you're coming with me." The politician waved him on. "With all this work, I'll need somebody to assist me." While Anderson looked like he wanted to reject the man's decision, he was too much of a soldier to defy a superior's order. Instead he just nodded to the five of us as he left with the white-haired man.

The group huddled together now and Tali was the first to speak. "I would have thought that the ambassador would have been more grateful for what you've accomplished commander."

"Thanks for the thought but we haven't accomplished anything just yet." He flashed a warm smile to show his genuine appreciation for her words. "Our real job starts now…the rest of you don't exactly have a choice but Wolf and Tali, if you two want out of this thing, this is probably the last chance you'll get. I won't hold it against you either, this could be a near-suicidal mission considering the forces and capabilities of the enemy we'll be facing is almost entirely unknown."

"Of course I'm with you Shepard." Tali indignantly placed her hands on her hips. "Part of the pilgrimage is showing that you can sacrifice for the good of all if it comes to that and Saren needs to be stopped. How can I know what's happening and just turn my back on all of you now?"

"I thought so but I just wanted to make sure." He turned to me with an expectant look. "What about you Mr. Wolfert? Besides your little…outburst, you've stayed uncharacteristically quiet, at least going by your reputation."

"What's not to like? Severely outnumbered, near certainty of death and only a small chance of success…what are we waiting for, let's do this." Tali just sighed. "Besides, you guys signed me to a contract, that's basically the written equivalent of a promise so it's much too late for me to leave now."

The Shepards looked at me curiously so Mitch stepped in. "It's kind of his thing. Ever since I've known him if he's physically capable of keeping a promise, he's always followed through."

"Damn straight. I'm a thief, thug and a killer, but I always keep my word." I grabbed Mitch and Tali by the shoulders. "Plus, I'm still her bodyguard and who else is going to keep the short guy in line if I'm not around? You guys pretty much need me." Mitch quickly threw my arm off while Tali just kind of slithered away cautiously. "However, if you fucking call me, 'Mr. Wolfert,' one more time then I absolutely will grab my guns and go home before you could even hit me with a Stasis. It's Wolf or Nate, those are your options."

"Understood Wolf." He pointed for emphasis. "And remember what I said about the biotics, I'll have to teach you how to Shockwave once we get some time to train."

"And I," his twin sister enthusiastically ran over to Tali again, "am going to teach you how to be a pro with that shotgun."

"Um, thank you."

"Let's just get to the requisitions shop." The commander glanced down at his sidearm. "I could use a new pistol."

Chelsea just laughed as we started walking. She seemed to do that a lot. Not that I was complaining mind you, she had a nice laugh for an N7 capable of killing you thirty-seven ways in two seconds. "Please, when's the last time you even shot that thing? Ever since you found out about your biotics, you've relied on them almost exclusively."

"Shut up Chelsea." Wow, it's funny to see that even two high-ranking Alliance officers turn back into siblings fighting over a toy when there's nobody important around. "I used it just a few hours ago to take out an assassin."

"After you already hit him with a Singularity to be fair."

The older sibling laughed loudly at Mitch's statement as Caleb grew indignant. "Lieutenant Woley would you mind clarifying just who's side you're on?"

"He's always on the ladies' side commander." The sniper just pursed his lips and shrugged in acknowledgement. "That's one thing you should know about your subordinate. If it comes down to it, he will agree with a female, regardless of species, one hundred percent of the time."

"I'm a weak man sir, what can I say?"

"Just…let's get to that vendor." If the geth don't get him first the poor guy's gonna have a heart attack managing this crew.

 **LINE BREAK**

While they made their trip to the weapons shop, I made one final stop home since the commander said this was most likely going to be the last time that I would be on the Citadel for a long while. I was wearing my armor and had all the guns and knives I could ever need but I uh, sort of forgot the whole, "needing clothes," thing. So swinging back by the shop was definitely essential.

"Well. I guess this is it you guys." I stared at the turian and quarian in front of me, luggage in hand. "I'm off to save the world."

Lia crossed the space between us in a flash and gave a hug that I tried my best to return even with my limited arm mobility. "Be careful out there Nate, make sure that you come back because Daxyrus will get even grumpier if you're gone."

"What about you?" I needled the young woman. "You won't miss me at all? The handsome, rugged-looking human who saved you from ruthless attackers and got you back on your feet?"

"You're not exactly her type." Daxy retorted for her.

"You're right Daxy. She goes more for turian bounty hunters with a penchant for wearing purple."

Not caring about my armor in the slightest, Lia slugged me in the arm as Lennie looked on with a smile at his two younger co-workers. "I swear Nathan I am going to pay you back for that someday."

"I'm quaking in my boots." I looked down to see a message from Mitch telling me to hurry my ass up. "Well that was Woley so…guess I'd better fly. I hate goodbyes anyway, never been much for all that sentimental crap but thanks for helping me get all packed up you guys."

"It was the least we could do." He stepped close and put a clawed hand on my shoulder. "If you ever need any repairs on anything make sure to stop in here while you're back and I'll get it done for you as fast as I can." Pausing for just a moment, he somewhat falteringly kept going in a much more reverent tone this time, almost chanting. "May the Spirits guide your weapon as you venture into the heart of battle and inspire you with a sense of loyalty and undying courage that brings honor to your unit."

I didn't really know what to say to the turian after his sort of impromptu prayer so I just gave a simple, "thank you," that felt extremely weak after his words.

"Nathan," the annoyance from the quarian was now completely gone as she toed the ground, "just come back safe alright? We'll miss you here at the shop while you're off, 'saving the galaxy.'"

Thankfully, I had regained my words in the few seconds time that had passed. "You don't have to worry about me one bit Miss Shar. I'm much too good at my job to get taken out on some backwater planet by a bunch of rusted out tin cans." By now the news of the attack had broken to the public so I wasn't worried about confidentiality as I gave her a final squeeze. "I'm gonna miss you two a whole hell of a lot for the record so just stay safe and try not to burn the place down so I've got something to come back to after this is all over alright?"

Waving, I walked out the doors of Jack's Armory and caught a cab to the dock bay. As I stepped out of the elevator leading up to the ship and came into sight of the Normandy, my former student was waiting for me. "Si- Wolf, everybody's waiting on you."

I waited a moment and admired the sleek looking ship. Hell I'm not much of a guy for space travel but I could appreciate a well-designed craft like this. Everything on it was curved and streamlined, the simple color scheme almost instantly making me fall in love, although I might have been a little biased, due to the black and white design with just a splash of red in it. Like I said, I try to avoid interplanetary travel, I'd grown accustomed to it solely out of need but this boat was something else. "Damn corporal, she's a beauty."

"Glad you think so." He turned and flashed a friendly grin as we stepped into the decontamination chamber. "Welcome to the Normandy Wolf." I gave an impressed grunt. "There's a few people I should probably introduce you to that play a key role on the ship, starting with our pilot."

As we stepped into the cockpit, the chair swiveled to reveal a goateed man wearing a hat that read, "SR-1," on it. "Welcome back Corporal Dick."

"And this is our pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, also known as Joker. Joker, say hi to the newest member of the ground team."

"Hi." He gave an exaggerated sweep with his hat. "I would stand up and shake your hand but you look like you'd probably break mine in the process." At my curious look, he elaborated. "Vrolik's Syndrome, Scarface, or brittle bone disease." He made a snapping sound. "They'll go just like that, which is why I stay up here and push buttons while you guys get all dirty and sweaty on the ground."

"It's Wolfert, Glass Jaw." I fired back.

"Never heard that one before." He clapped sarcastically. "Don't worry though, despite my particular condition you are in luck since I happen to be the best pilot in the galaxy."

I couldn't stop the corners of my mouth from being tugged upwards in a grin at the sheer amount of confidence spewing from the handicapped man while Jenkins simply looked on, seemingly this was par for the course. "Well that's a relief. I can rest easy knowing that the best pilot, who happens to be unable to do any physical activity out of fear of breaking bones, is flying me around the cold expanse of space."

"And I'll rest easy knowing that the Butcher of Torfan is a smart ass who makes fun of handicapped people for shits and giggles."

"Damn. That was actually pretty good." I had to concede that I had lost the initial battle of smart-assery in what I'm sure was the first of many to come. "Way to keep the whole, "Butcher," thing in your back pocket, most people would have gone strong with that right off the bat but I can respect the slow play. The Scarface nickname is a bit on the nose and unoriginal though to be fair so I have to dock you points for that."

"I came up with it on the spot, gimme a little time and I'll have a better one for you I'm sure." He whirled around so that the back of the chair was facing me. "You can resume your tour guide duty now Jenkins, I'm done performing for the masses."

The Marine simply shook his head and walked away, not even bothering to answer. "Alright and this here is Navigator Charles Pressly."

A serious looking man in the standard Alliance officer's jacket, sporting a beard and thin mustache topped by white hair that grew around the fringes of his head stepped forward to take my hand. "Nathaniel Wolfert, it's great to have you onboard. Between the Shepards, Woley and you we'll have the turian son of a bitch nailed down in no time, I'm sure of it."

"Glad to be here navigator, it'll be fun being back with the Alliance again, even as a hired gun. Looks like we'll have our work cut out for us but as long as Jenkins doesn't forget his rifle back in the armory like on Elysium, I think we'll do just fine."

Jenkins reddened in embarrassment at my bringing up of an old story and the older man chuckled. "That's why you bring extras right?" He saluted the two of us and old instincits kicked in as I snapped rigidly to attention. "I'm afraid I have to resume my duty but I'm looking forward to seeing the Butcher of Torfan back in action again."

"Hopefully I'm not too rusty, been a while since I've done any teams work so I'm just gonna try not to hit my own squad."

Jenkins resumed the sightseeing trip and we headed downstairs to see the next portion of the ship which appeared to house the mess hall along with the captain's quarters and a couple other rooms. A middle-aged woman started to go into the room on the right before taking in the sight of the two of us. "Corporal Jenkins." Her British-accented voice showed her curiosity and she gave a slight tilt of the head as she continued. "Would you care to introduce me to the newest member of our crew?"

"Yes ma'am. This is Nathan Wolfert." A spasm of empathy crossed her face when my name was mentioned for some reason which was unusual. The two standards were usually either comradery or open hostility, not someone appearing to feel bad. "Oh, Mr. Wolfert, Mitch told me you'd be coming and I have a few medical checks I need to perform before you get settled in."

"But the commander-" Jenkins protested.

"If Shepard has a problem with it he can take it up with me young man." Seeing the Marine in front of me cowed almost caused me to bust up laughing and I had to fake a coughing fit just to avoid distressing my former pupil for the second time. "You can continue on with getting the others acclimated, Mr. Wolfert will still be here afterwards."

"Yes ma'am."

He walked off to join the other group before the doctor motioned for me to join her in one of the adjacent rooms that apparently served as a medical office. "Now what exactly do you need me to do…Jenkins actually never mentioned your name now that I think about it."

"It's Karin Chakwas." I shook the mature woman's hand. "The boy means well but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer."

"Trust me I know, had to train the kid back on Elysium. Damn good soldier though, that's for sure." Remembering that I had come here for an actual purpose, I finished asking my question. "So are you getting out the hacksaw for this one doc or what's going on here?"

"Just a few standard shots, nothing too monumental. I also need to run scans to make sure those Alliance mods are still in working order."

"I fucking hate needles."

"What was that?" She smirked while pulling out the instruments of torture.

"Nothing, nothing important at all."

As I stared at the ceiling and tried extremely hard to ignore what was happening, Doctor Chakwas began to talk. "So…I've actually heard quite a bit about you, Mr. Wolfert. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

"Yeah, well you can't believe everything you hear in the news reports." Trying in vain not to squirm, I could feel my skin being penetrated by the sharp object and tried to refrain from freaking out as I pinched my leg as hard as I could just to try and think of something else. Pain has a funny way of distracting you I've noticed.

"It was actually from a colleague of mine, a specialist renowned for his skill in artificial body parts."

Well shit. Even in an entirely new setting, I can't get away from people who know my past it seems like. At least, if she's talking about who I think she is of course. "Oh. I see. I'm assuming you're referring to Evan Perri then?"

"Yes, we've worked together in the past a few times, he's a good man."

Despite the fact that all the needles were now gone, I still stared intently at the ceiling. "No doubt. One of the best."

"I know it's not my place to poke my nose in affairs that don't concern me but you really should get in touch with him. He and Kimberley would appreciate it greatly, I'm sure."

"While that's nice and all since I'm glad they don't want to burn me at the stake for getting their daughter killed, there's one little problem with that whole thing."

She tilted her head in genuine curiosity. "And what's that Mr. Wolfert?"

"Please doc, just Wolf." I jumped up off the chair, cutting short the conversation. "'The problem is I'm still a bit of a bitch when it comes to facing my past and going back home to see them in person scares the shit out of me. I know right? It sounds stupid coming from a guy who stares death in the face for a living but it's true." Heaving a sigh, I tried to make my escape. "Are we done here? I still need to finish seeing the whole ship."

"Yes Nathan." She sighed loudly. "I've got everything I need from you, go ahead and rejoin Jenkins."

"Thanks doc, I'll see you around."

Setting down my belongings in the elevator, I hit the button to go down before running a hand through my hair. No need to be an asshole about it Nate, I mentally berated myself, the lady just wanted to help. Resolving to apologize for my rudeness at cutting her off at a later time when I wasn't so shocked at the mention of the Perri's, I stepped out into the cargo bay and yelled at Jenkins. "Hey kid, I'm done being prodded so why don't you show me where I can store my shit, my arms are getting tired."

"Sure thing Wolf."

Well that's a start, I think that's the first time he's said my name without almost defaulting to, "sir." We're making progress. Slowly of course but hey, it is Jenkins after all so what can you really expect?

 **A/N: Hey just wanted to explain my absence here since it's been a while since I posted. I had Finals come up which obviously took up most of my time when not at work but on top of that, my 3 year old sister that I love to death had a seizure. I'm telling you right now there's nothing I've ever experienced that's scarier than holding your baby sister and just talking to her, trying to say anything to get some response while she lifelessly stares right through you without even blinking. So it's pretty safe to say I've been more than a bit distracted lately, thankfully she hasn't had any more incidents since my parents took her to the hospital and we've got her on medication to help but she's got some tests that are being run tomorrow so I'm just hoping that they go well.**

 **Big thanks once again to my beta Ranger Station Charlie who has been and still is an awesome guy to just brainstorm stuff with. He was actually recently diagnosed with scoliosis unfortunately so if you guys could just keep him in your thoughts I'm sure he'd appreciate it, it's safe to say that without him this story would have fizzled out completely.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **LebendenToten: Bit longer than I was hoping but hopefully the wait was worth it!**

 **GJD: Well I'm glad it's still got a hold of you then, lol.**

 **RSC: Thanks for the advice man, I just barely got this one out but I'll definitely have to take a look back at that and see how I can make it better since you're right, it's very vague.**

 **RSC(2): Hahaha, well thankfully the right fighter ended up winning in the end. I really wanted to get in a flame war with people in the comments section of that video but I ended up withdrawing even though you only have to say two words and Ratchet instantly wins. Golden. Groovitron.**

 **Fallout Fan: Don't worry, one of the things in the geth arsenal has already been mentioned briefly but there'll be a couple other weapons that the upgraded crew will have to deal with to make sure they're not too OP. The Cerberus angle is actually something that I've got vague ideas still rolling around in my head on along with your other mention of our favorite former red shirt but we'll see what happens when the time comes.**

 **11: Hey at least Wolf doesn't have to take all the bullets now that he's got Jenkins and Wrex there. He might get to play the DPS role in this newly formed party instead of the tank role which'll be a fun change to write.**

 **Lord Mortem: Glad you enjoyed the read!**

 **Tergen: Took me long enough but yup, I'm finally writing again. Good to hear that you're liking what you're seeing so far!**


	5. Back to the Beginning

Finally, after the unofficial tour was over I made my way to the crew quarters where members of the ground team kept their personal effects and bunked down on what seemed like it was going to be the rare occasion we were allowed to sleep. As I stored away my clothes, I was interrupted by loud feedback from the speakers as Caleb began to address the group. "Attention crew members of the Normandy, this is Commander Shepard speaking." He paused for a moment, just to let everyone on the ship stop to listen. "You all know what our mission is by now, we have to find Saren and stop him dead in his tracks before he can reach the Conduit. I'm not going to lie, this isn't going to be easy. Despite the atrocities he's committed, there's a reason he's considered one of the best soldiers in the galaxy. With an army of geth at his back, we'll have to be even more careful."

A more feminine voice cut in. "Never before has a more diverse crew stood together on an Alliance ship but now with this common cause I believe we can unite together, stand as one and bring this son of a bitch to justice! Saren knows we're coming after him but that doesn't change one thing, we're gonna chase him to the ends of the galaxy, steamroll through whatever he puts in our way and kick in every damn door until there's nowhere left for the coward to hide."

"Saren began this when he attacked our colony," Caleb began talking again, "but we're going to finish it on our terms."

He was overridden by his impetuous sister. "And you can be damn sure that he's going to regret the day he chose to fuck with Humanity!"

A loud, raucous cheer shook the ship and I grinned at Mitch. "Nice speech. Short, simple and ends on a high note." Because of the whirlwind of events that had led to me joining the team, I hadn't really been able to speak too much with the commander so I figured now was the perfect opportunity to quiz Woley a bit. "You fought with the commander on Eden Prime right…what's he like?"

"Can't speak for the sister quite yet but the commander's a born leader." He pulled out his Alliance-sanctioned workout gear and started to get changed as we chatted. "He's charismatic when he needs to be and level-headed no matter the situation, plus the man' got one of the sharpest tactical minds I've ever seen. As long as you don't fuck around too much on missions or in briefings," my former partner looked at me knowingly, "he puts up with people's…eccentricities as well."

"So you're saying I should try to tone down my stupidity a bit around him?"

"Well it couldn't hurt champ." He gave me a friendly tap on the chest before pulling the shirt over his head. "I'm not saying you can't do your whole sarcasm routine out there but just curb it enough that he doesn't get tired and slap you down with a Singularity alright?"

"No guarantees but I'll give it a shot, see how long it lasts." I finished tucking away my non-combat related items and flopped down on the bed, checking the edge of the dagger I'd received years ago from Daxy. "So what happened while I was finishing shit up at the store?"

"Well, Captain Anderson got forced out of the helm of the Normandy and into a paperwork job by Udina."

I couldn't help but interrupt since I had been wondering where Anderson was in all this for a little while now. "Well that's fucked up. I don't see why he couldn't still be the CO, even if Shep's in charge of all things related to the ground team."

"It's a whole political thing going down." He waved his hand dismissively. "Apparently he was being considered as a Spectre a while back and failed thanks to Saren sabotaging him. The Council of course didn't believe Anderson's story so I think they view him as something of a failure and don't want their newest agents so heavily associated with someone like him."

"Still think it's total bullshit."

"Yeah, I'm with you there Wolf." He took a seat next to me now that he was fully dressed and leaned back against the wall.

"So uh, where are we going now?"

The Infiltrator just grinned at me. "You mean you didn't ask either of the commanders where we're going? Good to know you're taking care of the little details just as much now as when we were a thing."

"Hey." Smirking right back, I pointed the talon dagger in his general direction. Shit, it was almost like old times all over again, verbally sparring with Mitch as we headed out to kick ass. "They don't pay me to worry about any of that stuff anymore thankfully. You of all people should know I was never the type to plan that kind of big picture shit, just let me do what I do best and beat the shit out of people while soaking up all the bullets."

"I thought you might have changed you know? Maybe matured a little bit in the two years since we've been battle-buddies but apparently not." He shook his head. "Right though, current objective."

The resident human sniper tapped his chin in thought and I instantly jumped his ass. "What's wrong buddy? Does the commander's right hand man not remember what we're supposed to be doing now?"

"Just shut up." He rolled his eyes. "I'm assuming you at least remember that Benezia lady, the one from Saren's recording?" I nodded. "Well apparently she had a daughter. Her name's Liara T'Soni."

"What are you gonna try and hook up with her or something?"

Ignoring my little pinprick, he continued. "And she just happens to be a scientist who specializes in the field of prothean research. Which means that we're going to go journey to the Artemis Tau cluster where she was last rumored to be exploring a dig site on some uncharted world and pick her up. No, not pick her up like that," he cut off my teasing before I could even get a word out, "for questioning and only that."

Well, that makes some sense then. If she was that closely related to the asari helping Saren, she might have info on where the matriarch could be. And if we get to Benezia, chances are we get to Saren. Of course, it was much more fun to just keep teasing Mitch though.

"Gotcha. I understand. But what if she's like, super-hot? Then are you gonna try and hit on her?"

With that, he got up off the bunk and slammed his locker shut. "Now I remember why we can't stand each other. What do they say, familiarity breeds contempt?"

"Something like that, yeah." I contentedly crossed my arms behind my head, glad to know I hadn't lost my touch.

Before he left the room, he gave a friendly wink. "For the record, I'm glad you're on the team Wolf."

"You too buddy, I'm looking forward to being on the front lines together again so thanks for the recommendation." I stopped him before he could completely make his escape. "Serious question though, just so I know what we're dealing with.

"Fire away."

So is this…" I hesitated, already forgetting the asari chick's name.

"Liara, Liara T'soni."

"Right, it was on the tip of my tongue. Anyway, do we know if she's friendly, hostile or somewhere in-between?"

"No clue." Well. Good to see things haven't changed when it comes to Alliance intel. "All we know is she's somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster and there'll probably be signs of prothean architecture on the planet considering she's an archaeologist or something along those lines."

I just blinked a few times before sighing loudly. Gotta love vagueness. "Hot damn, things really haven't changed."

 **LINE BREAK**

"I think you need a job." Chelsea Shepard grinned at me from the other side of the chow hall table. We were now on the way to find where exactly this Liara girl was and so far I was bored out of my mind with next to absolutely nothing to do. Besides visiting the brig, which just happened to also serve as a training room/makeshift firing range since we had no current prisoners, I had done basically nothing in the day and a half I'd been onboard. "Me and bro have been talking, both of us agree that there's no room for freeloaders on the ship."

"Well I mean technically I do already have a job when you think about it since I'm part of the ground team. Doesn't that mean I get special privileges or something like that?" I leaned back after downing the gourmet MRE's that had been given to us. That was one thing I did not fucking miss. After Em's cooking for three years, the Alliance rations tasted like dog crap. This was one thing about the old times that I absolutely did not miss one bit, I actually could go for a power bar though. "Guess I just figured since we're the ones getting shot at and beat to hell out there that the time on the ship should be relaxing, you know? Just a little time for all of us to recuperate and get our shit straight after surviving the horrors of war."

"Nice try but no, everybody onboard pulls their own weight and that includes the ground pounders. Unless of course they want a free trip out the airlock." She stated cheerfully. "Since Mitch tells me you're complete shit when it comes to anything tech, I'll stick you with Williams on weapon maintenance. With the extra bodies she could use a bit of help." The blonde woman stood up and walked off with her empty tray of food while I was still sitting there in completely stunned silence. "I heard from li'l bro that you two seemed like you **really** hit it off so I figure this gives you a chance to get to know each other even better. Report there immediately after your lunch break is over."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." I mumbled at her retreating back. "The chief already hates my freaking guts!"

A hand waved over her shoulder as she left my field of vision. "Don't really see how that's my problem, good luck Wolf!"

I finished my meal before standing up and wiping the crumbs off my hands. "Well this is gonna suck hard." With a loud sigh, I took the elevator down to the armory and stepped out to where Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams was currently in the middle of maintenance. For a few moments, I hesitated before walking over to the bench she was seated on. Instantly, the woman scooted to the far end of the bench in complete silence. "Butcher of Torfan here reporting for duty chief!"

Snapping to attention, I gave the crispest salute I'd given in a long while. If she's gonna be a stubborn ass then I might as well do the same thing. I realize that I'm not gonna get along with everybody but at least give me a shot, if there's one thing I can't stand it's when people just hear the title and just make assumptions about me negatively as a person. "Chelsea ordered me to help you out with gun maintenance because I quote, 'There's no room for freeloaders on the ship.'"

Williams nodded her head to the side for me to take a seat. Could've sworn she mumbled something along the lines of, "what an ass," but I can't confirm it. As I settled into my old routine of taking apart weapons, oiling up the parts and reassembling them, an uncomfortable silence settled in. After a couple minutes, it got to be too much to bear and Gunnery Chief Williams broke the stillness in the air. "So. I was talking to the lieutenant and he said that you two used to basically be partners."

"Yeah, we've pretty much been together since the beginning." I calibrated the sight on an assault rifle before setting it down on the desk. "After all the shit that went down on Torfan we both ended up going through N school together and after that, I guess they just decided that we worked well enough together that we should continue to do so."

She just nodded politely, clearly not really caring too much about what I was saying but at the same time, not wanting things to be quiet again. "He uh, told me to ask you about some incident where you got into a ton of trouble and had to deal with paperwork afterwards. Both of us were talking about how much of an ass Udina is and Lieutenant Woley said that it might cheer me up a bit."

"Could you be more specific…I've pissed off a lot of people in my time."

"He just said to bring up stasis and you'd know."

I barked out a loud, abrupt laugh, the memories flooding back almost instantly. "Shit, how could I ever forget about that one?" Maybe I tried to block out the memory of the lost pay and crapload of paperwork. "Alright, so here's some backstory. This ambassador chick gets herself kidnapped by a bunch of Terminus fuckheads trying to get the humans out of, 'their space,' like usual and a Marine contingent is sent in with some other figurehead to negotiate the bitch's release. However, what they didn't know is that the two of us dropped in first and went in to infiltrate the bastard's base. That was only the second time I've done a live biotic freefall and let me tell you, there's nothing quite like falling towards a jungle with no parachute to-"

"So where does this story make me not want to punch out Udina?"

"Fine. I'll skip to the good part." I heaved a sigh. "Long story short, the two of us went in, killed everybody there and rescued the damsel in distress. One of the batarians there turned out to not be a complete scumbag, she made some crack about making him suffer and being in an injured state, I kind of lost it on her then went into a rant about how she had no clue about," interest was being lost once again, "right. Long story short I ended up snapping, cussing her out and put the cranky old bag into a stasis field until the Marines showed up to take her home. It was worth it at the time but a few months of docked pay and a metric fuckton of paperwork later, I kinda rethought that position."

She had the decency to at least crack a little grin at the story, even if it only probably further cemented my status as a loose cannon who could turn like a feral dog at any moment. "So between that and Torfan, I take it that's where all the rumors come from?"

"Oh they're not rumors, I have a natural born talent for pissing off the brass." I laughed, thinking back to how much some of the instructors at The Villa hated dealing with me. "Once I got out, they basically had a handler assigned to deal with the two of us just because nobody wanted to put up with my shit."

"I can see where they're coming from." Wow, she did not even crack a smile when she said that to show she was joking. Well I had hoped that I was at least making a little progress but apparently you can't win someone over with one stupid story. Who would have thought?

Minutes of strained quiet went by, the only sounds being that of the weapons we were cleaning. The whole time, I berated myself about how now was probably one of the only chances I'll get to actually make a good impression on my teammate but nothing came to mind. My mouth opened and closed, but still no words came until I found a subject to at least try and offer help on. Even if it was a potential grenade, it's not like I could dig myself too much deeper at this point. "I'm uh, I'm really sorry about what happened to your platoon back on Eden Prime."

She didn't say anything, a slight pause in her work being the only indicator that she had actually even heard me. "I know it probably doesn't help and I'm the last person you want to hear it from but I have a decent idea what you're going through, the only difference is I had Mitch plus some great people waiting for me back home to help cope with losing some of my closest friends."

When she still didn't respond, I summarized my final thoughts. "Look, I'm not great with words or helping people deal with emotional stuff but what I'm trying to say is you're part of a team here and I'm sure everybody would be happy to just listen to whatever you had to say." I suddenly thought better of that statement. "Well…maybe not Wrex."

That finally got the ghost of a grin to show on her lips. "Well, you're right about one thing…it didn't help." The dark-haired soldier finally put away the weapon she was working on and turned to face me. "But I do appreciate what you tried to do…maybe I'll take your advice and go talk to Shepard if he has a moment."

"Well it can't hurt." I turned back to the task at hand and let the talk end on a somewhat decent note. "I can handle things here if you wanna go chat right now, don't know if you'll get another chance for a while once we really start looking for this asari chick."

"You know what, I think I might take you up on that offer." Shoving away her maintenance equipment, Ashley stood up and began to walk away. "…Thanks Wolfert."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to sound so pained about it," I shooed her away, "go talk to the man already."

 **LINE BREAK**

I grunted from the effort as I swung the fake knives into the plastic dummy, landing blows from every angle as I swung again and again. Being on a military ship like this was bringing back some of the old regiment I used to go through back when I wasn't just a contractor and to be honest, I was enjoying it a hell of a lot more than I thought I would. Obviously, working with Caleb Shepard was a big reason for me joining initially but the more time I spent getting settled in, the more I was liking the whole deal. Everyone had kind of found their place on the ship now, Garrus fiddling with the Mako, Tali helping the engineering crew, Ashley and me with the weapons, Mitch doing his duties as the Shepards' right hand man and Wrex…being Wrex. I mean c'mon, Shepard or not, who the fuck's gonna tell a krogan with biotics and centuries of experience using them to haul his own weight? Unless you've got a death wish, that is. Even if I still wasn't the biggest fan of space since the cold deadness absolutely creeps the shit out of me, this whole thing was pretty nice.

Wiping a bit of sweat from my brow, I was about to massacre another poor, defenseless target when I felt more than heard another person enter the room. "Tali? Usually the only time I see you out of the engineering room is to grab some chow and get right back there." Stepping away from the target, I decided to take a little break to chat with my former employer, brief as our little stint was. "So what brings you down here to the prison/workout room?"

"Well, I was actually hoping that you could help me with something." I cocked my head and waved for her to continue, a little curious as to what it was she would need my help with. "I was just thinking that it seems like we're going to be doing a lot of fighting and I want to be as useful as possible for the commander."

"From what I'm hearing you're already doing wonders with the engines so trust me," I put on my warmest smile for the young quarian on pilgrimage, "I'm sure Caleb and Chelsea are plenty happy to have you on board for this thing. We get involved with some other vessels and those upgrades are gonna come in real handy. Much more handy than I'll be, jacking around in the cargo bay or wherever it is that they stick the ground crew when the shit gets real in ship-to-ship combat." My mind wandered for a second. "I hope everyone's been treating you alright here, as much as I hate to say it I'm pretty sure the Alliance still has its fair share of racist pricks."

"No no, everyone's been absolutely amazing. Engineer Adams was kind enough to let me help with the engines and-" Tali started to gush at the ship's capabilities and I'm not gonna lie, half of it might as well have been in another language for how much of it I understood. "…the drive core is amazing, I would love to meet with the ship's creators and just talk to them about how they put something that big in a ship of this size." Her face was practically beaming as she spoke, although she still continued by looping back to her previous train of thought. "And that's very nice of you to say regarding my usefulness but I was really talking about being more helpful on the ground team."

"Ohhh." Suddenly the flashbulb went off. From what little I saw in the firefight, she carried a pistol and shotgun which were pretty much my two preferred weapons and while I couldn't help her with the tech attack side, she already seemed to be pretty damn proficient in that already. "So you want me to help out with the fighting then."

"Would you?" She practically squealed as her hands clapped together.

"Yeah, of course." I grinned wide as I pointed to her boot. A rather pointy looking dagger was held there. "I was paying attention during our little scuffle so I know you're already a pretty damn good shot but do you know how to use that?"

"It's a knife. Of course I know how to use it."

I just sighed loudly and covered my face in disappointment. "That's not what I meant. At all. If your weapons overheat and you've got someone rushing you, how are you gonna take them out? And don't say with your omni-tool because that Incinerate mod is gonna work just great from eight feet away when a turian is about to ram his talons through your chest." My head cocked to the side as I realized what I was saying. "Sorry, got a bit dramatic there but you get the point. If you're gonna carry something like that then you better make damn sure you know how to use it."

"Ummm, ok." The young lady reached down and pulled the weapon away from her lower leg where it was strapped to. "So where do we start?"

"Hold up, hold up." I raised both hands, indicating a pause.

"What's the problem?"

"I don't just give away lessons, you've gotta do something in return for me."

"Go on." I couldn't see her face but her entire posture just reeked of suspicion.

My head dipped and I mumbled just loud enough to be heard. This is the part where I look like a complete idiot. I can make it through N school just fine but ask me to set up a tech module and I'm at a complete loss. The only thing I'm any good at is running the hack modules that were installed on there. Who'd have figured right? Kid who grows up thieving for a living is interested in breaking into shit when he grows up. "Can you show me how to install an Overload module on here? I'm really, **really** bad with an omni-tool but I figured it'd be good to have as a backup plan."

"What? That's it?" She actually laughed at my tech illiteracy. "You don't know how to install an overload attack? It's one of the simplest things there is when it comes to combat programs."

"Look, technology and I aren't on the best terms alright? I'm much better at shooting and smashing stuff than dealing with basically anything that has to do with my omni-tool but I figure an electrical attack could come in real handy against these killer robots." She brought a hand up to her mouth as the giggle fest continued. "Hey! Do we have a deal or not, because otherwise…"

"Well, I'm actually supposed to be taking a shift at the engines in about ten minutes."

I quickly brought up the engineering room on the comm. "Hey Adams, it's Wolf. How goes the whole engine maintenance thing?"

In the short time I'd talked to him, I could clearly see why he'd gone into the field he did. The man was cool as a cu-fucking-cumber and whip smart too. If shit was gonna go down there's very few people I'd rather have handling things down below. "It's about the same, nothing much to report Wolf." For once, the Butcher thing came in handy since he had apparently known a few people who were at Torfan when shit went down and he instantly took a liking to me for my role in that little incident.

"Well uh, I'm glad to hear that." A conversationalist however, he was not. To be fair I didn't give him much to work with though. "I was wondering if you could possibly give Tali a break for a few minutes so I can give her a couple fighting tips?"

Engineer Adams thought for only a moment. "Of course, she's earned it, my job's already ten times easier. I'm sure the commanders will appreciate you helping her out too, teaching her a few tricks of the trade."

"You're the man Greggy."

He just sighed at the shortening of his first name. "Thanks."

"Fine then, I'll teach you how to install it in return for you teaching me how to use a knife." As I raised an arm as if swearing an oath she reached out and grabbed the one holding my device. "Why couldn't you get the lieutenant to help you with this though? I thought you two have known each other for a long time and he seems pretty good with this kind of thing."

"He'd never let me live it down." I waved her off with the hand that wasn't holding my omni-tool.

She looked up for a brief moment as she fiddled with the thing. "But, from what Commander Shepard said he made it seem like you two were best friends or something?"

"Oh we are, that's why we mess with each other so much." I tried to explain our strange relationship to the quarian woman. "Have you ever had someone in your life that both drives you absolutely insane and you want to pulverize to a pulp but at the same time if anybody else messed with them you'd have their back instantly?"

"No?" She declared hesitantly. "The friends I had back in the Flotilla were, you know, friendly. We had arguments sometimes but not like what you're saying."

"Huh. Well maybe it's a guy thing, or a human thing. But either way, if I walked up to Mitch and asked him for help loading something this easy up then he would laugh me off the ship. Every time I generated an Overload in a fight he'd probably make some stupid joke about needing help with it or something like that and there's no way I'm going to deal with that shit the whole time I'm on this ship."

"So what you're saying is you'd rather ask someone you barely know for help than Mitch?"

I pondered it for a brief moment, trying to explain myself better. "No, if there was something that was incredibly important he'd be the first person I'd go to. It's just, for stuff like this, the little things, I try to make as little occasion for him to poke fun at me as possible."

"You humans are strange."

"True. I'm probably even more of an instance of that though so you've got a bad example as your first real heavy interaction with our species." I shrugged. "We've got our fair share of faults that's for sure but that hot-blooded temper everyone else likes to pin on us can actually be a plus sometimes."

She stood up and finally released my device, apparently her work was completed. "There. It's all set up for you."

"Awesome…could you uh, show me how to use it." Tali stared at me for a few seconds blankly before my palms went skyward. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I do at least know **that** much about combat programs. It's just…been a while since N training and the only reason I made it through the tech tests then was because Vanguard specced Marines like me don't need to know too much in that field, just the bare minimums which I have seemingly forgotten in the five years since."

"I see…while I was in there I also created a folder for you since your display was a chaotic mess. Now if you need either your hack modules or an Overload then you can go right to it. Also if you'd like I can sync it so you can use different software with a particular hand gesture."

"Tali, has anybody ever told you that you're the best? Because if not, I'll say it right now."

My flattery didn't work. "You're a bosh'tet you know that?" Her fingers flew over the digital device for a few seconds. "There, it's assigned so whenever you do a particular motion the overload will activate."

I thought for a few moments before deciding and bending just my ring finger, I brought my hand to my chest before flinging outward. "So I'm good to go now?"

"Go right ahead, you can try it out if you don't trust me."

"Not that I don't have faith in your ability or anything, but…" Bringing my arm up, I started to make the gesture once again but the quarian woman hurriedly brought both her hands up to pin my arm to my chest. "Woah, Tali. I uh, you're a very nice girl and your eyes are one of the prettiest things I've seen but this is a bit much. My rugged handsomeness does have this effect on women sometimes but it'd be awkward. We'd have to hide our budding romance on the ship since fraternization is still a thing. Although…" I tilted my head in thought, really enjoying the young alien's obvious rising annoyance, "since neither of us are technically official Alliance members I'm not sure if those same rules apply to-"

"Keelah, you're such an idiot." She interrupted in complete irritation which was exactly what I was going for. "When I said for you to test it out, I didn't mean for you to aim it at the computers that control the prison door systems."

Glancing around the room, I took in the sight of basically everything that was important pretty much fifty feet directly in front of me. "Oh, right. Tossing an overload probably isn't the best idea considering, you know, the good stuff's right there." I gave her a tap on the shoulder. "Way to think on your feet Tali, good going." She just sighed loudly, exasperated at the pile-up of technological stupidity along with the prodding brand of humor. "And don't worry, you're going to be a master of the blade in no time at all. First I just have to run upstairs to grab my own pistol, the two really go hand-in-hand so I wanted to practice a bit before our first real fight goes down."

Jogging over to the elevator, I quickly took it up to the armory where my weapons were kept before snagging the thing, loading in a block of dummy rounds and heading back down to the lowest level of the ship. As I strolled through the doors into the large room, the first thing I saw was that in the short time it had taken me, Tali had been joined by the corporal who was plugging away with his rifle at some improvised targets on the far wall of the room in the now wide open cells. I waited for him to finish his shooting before strolling over to Tali who was absorbed watching the Marine go to work.

"We can wait a few minutes for the lesson Wolf." Tali tapped me on the shoulder. "Corporal Jenkins was nice enough to give me a few pointers on stance as I was watching him shoot."

"That's fine by me, no rush here. You mind if I practice with him a bit then?" She graciously indicated for me to rejoin my former pupil and I gave a nod of thanks. "So Jenkins, what'd you end up doing after the whole training thing on Elysium if you don't mind me asking?"

As he fired away, I threw an occasional extremely weak Overload in between his bursts, just practicing to get the feel of the thing down. "Well, I actually was recruited into an experimental program that was testing out new powered armor suits."

I blasted away with the pistol for a few rounds and then launched another tech attack. "Congrats on that kid. I always did say you had a penchant for moving in heavy armor so I guess someone else saw the same thing I did. How'd it end up going?"

"The whole thing was shut down because the higher-ups thought it was too impractical and the amount it cost to outfit a single soldier, not to mention the time in training them to use it, was too much. Basically, the cost outweighed the benefit in their eyes."

"How different is it from using regular plated armor?"

"Completely actually." He fired off a final few shots before tucking the weapon under his arm sim and turning to face me. "You have to calibrate your body movements to the suit because you're not actually moving it on your own power, it's all because of the interface there so if you're not careful you can break your arm in about a second because of the armor's unlimited flexibility."

"Well that sounds fun. You have to go in blind and learn how to use something that can severely damage you if you're not using it correctly."

"Yeah." He scratched his head. "That was one of the other reasons it doesn't exist anymore, the injury rate for operators of the T5-II was pretty high. Never happened to me but a few of the guys I know had some nasty accidents with the thing."

"So did you at least get to finish the program or was it shut down before you could graduate?" I questioned the younger man.

"I was actually one of only a few to get certified for power armor use."

Huh. That's extremely interesting. "Could you pilot one now if you had to?"

The short haired man contemplated for a few seconds. "It might take me a little while but I'd pick it back up fairly quickly I think, so yeah, guess I could."

An authoritative voice belonging to on Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard blared over the loudspeakers. "All members of the ground team report immediately to the comms room, we believe we've found Doctor T'soni's location."

"Well. Guess that means us." I tucked my pistol into the back of my pants, left the firing range and waited for the elevator to arrive so the three of us could join the rest of the team for the debriefing. "Sorry about that Tali, I promise we get back and the first thing I'm gonna do once we're both free is give you a lesson alright?"

"You'd better." She turned to me as we stood there. "Otherwise I'll tell Mitch all about where you learned to create an Overload."

I just gasped in shock at the young woman's treachery. "You wouldn't dare." She didn't even respond, just letting me sweat out the situation in a cold fear. "That's harsh Tali, really harsh…I respect it though."

As the damn thing finally arrived and we piled in, Jenkins leaned over and gave me handshake. "Can I just say sir, it's good to have you back on our side. With the Lion, Survivor and Butcher together, those geth won't know what hit 'em."

"I told you to just call me Wolf kid." A thought struck me. "And who's the, 'Survivor?' I recognize the other two of course, but that one's new to me."

His face blanched. "It's uh…you're telling me you really have never heard?"

"Jenkins, what's the big deal? Talk to me kid."

"Well Chelsea, I mean, I thought being an N7 and with your meeting her and all she would have told you." The young man practically stuttered out.

By now I was starting to get miffed as my pupil danced around the subject. "Spit it the hell out Jenkins or I might officially sign back up just so I can pull rank on you right now!"

"Sorry Service Ch- I mean Wolf." He paused. "Well, it's just that I don't think she'd-"

"Jenkins I swear to God…" I trailed off ominously.

"Fine. Have you ever heard of Akuze then?" From the way my eyes went wide as I stared at the soldier who occupied the tiny room with me, he could tell without words that I knew what had happened there. An entire group of Marines slaughtered by monstrous worm-like creatures called thresher maws that spit acid and could swallow a Mako whole. "Yeah, she doesn't like to talk about it but that's how she got that scar on her cheek and the nickname, 'The Sole Survivor.'"

"Yeah, yeah, she called herself that when we first met back up but you're fucking telling me that she survived **that** place in one piece?"

"The Alliance tried to sweep it under the rug because of the embarrassment of an entire platoon getting butchered like that but yes, that was how she got it."

"I-you mean-how did-"

Now that it was my turn to look like a stammering idiot, the door opened and the Survivor herself was standing in front of us. "Hey, what took you two so long?" She practically dragged us two Marines into the conference room by our ears as if she was a mother with her wayward kids, Tali just trailing a little behind. The already assembled group of hardened fighters just glanced at the three of us in amusement. "Got 'em li'l bro. You can go ahead and start your big talk now."

I couldn't help but look at her in a slight awe, my eyes pretty much glued to the scar on her cheek now that I knew its significance and she returned my stare with a rather amused expression. "You alright Wolfy? From the way you're staring at me I'd think you were star struck right now but I already know that you're only that way for Caleb, not me." She shoved me into an unoccupied seat before taking her own at her twin's right hand, giving me a friendly wink as she did so. Just how in the hell did that woman stay so upbeat and friendly after that nightmarish experience? For that matter, how did she manage to escape that hellhole alive after seeing every single one of her comrades butchered by those worms?

 **A/N: Hey I'm on time this week, shocker. Now that life's calmed down a little I've been able to write quite a bit more than previously, no promises just yet but I might be able to get back to a weekly posting if this continues.**

 **Thanks once again to my beta Ranger Station Charlie who continues to provide awesome help.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **RSC: Hahaha, yeah I work with my Dad so I can sympathize for anyone who has to share a workplace with a family member because when it gets bad, it gets just a little more personal and that always makes things interesting. And that's good to hear I got that interaction right in at least one person's eyes then, I rewrote that thing a few times before landing on what I went with there. Eh, I might have but the story would be pretty drastically different I think and probably not for the better either so thanks for that.**

 **I actually thought the eco would give Jak a pretty decent shot at it so I honestly wouldn't have thought it crazy for him to win although I do feel like Ratchet is just much more versatile. Yeah…I don't think I'm going to see it, I'm not hearing great things about it so I might just wait 'till the DVD release.**

 **Ronnambi: Thanks for that, she hasn't had any incidents since then and we're trying to find some specialists so we'll see how that goes.**

 **Stormdragon981: Hah, there is a very good chance of that considering Wolf is already halfway down that road.**

 **GJD: I definitely have plans for Wolf to go back because like you said he's definitely not over it and that'll rear its head a couple times so we'll see how that goes.**

 **Stormdragon981(2): I do have concrete love interest plans for both of those characters you mention but I will not spoil who they will be quite yet I think. Well he's already added an Overload to the arsenal so there's one ability added but yeah, he'll definitely be picking up new skills on the Normandy.**

 **Fallout Fan: You just about nailed it with that first paragraph, even if their characters definitely have quite a bit more going on under the surface thanks to their pasts that will show up in the future.**

 **That's kind of what I was going for since those three events actually all happen in canon so I figured I'd switch it up and just highlight the people involved in three of the Alliance's most crucial fights in recent history.**

 **Yep, that was intentional with Kaidan. He is alive and I have plans for him but I won't say any more than that at this particular moment. There also** _ **might**_ __ **be another member that joins but I won't spoil that one either so I'll just say it's a canon character and leave it at that.**

 **Dekuton: Hey well I'm glad you found it even if the site betrayed you. It can actually be inferred from the game that all three of those events happen whether or not Canon!Shep was there which was actually one of the main story angles I had planned from the very beginning. And yes, Kaidan is absent, still alive and could possible make an appearance but I won't say when. You're spot on there, the visions will definitely come into play so we'll just have to wait and see how that whole thing plays out.**


	6. All my Friends are Killers

"Listen up team, here's the deal." The younger Shepard began to speak, pacing the small conference room we were holed up in as he did. "We believe we've found the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Saren's supposed right hand-woman for those of you who might have forgotten, on Therum. Her name is Liara T'Soni and from our intel we've learned that she's a young asari maiden who specializes in the study of all things prothean."

"So why do we think she's here then commander?" I interjected. "From what little I understood, she could be just about anywhere in the entire damn cluster."

"Ruins, Wolf. Prothean ruins to be specific." He summed it up in just a few words. "Our scans of the planet revealed them and for a researcher like herself, the find would be simply irresistible. In addition to that, the geth have been sighted moving through the area so we have a very strong reason to believe that she is holed up planet-side somewhere in the vicinity of the dig site. At this point it is unclear however whether she's working with them or if they are there for some other reason entirely, although it's obviously safe to assume as we deploy that her connections to Benezia are the reason they're there."

He nodded to Chelsea and she took over the talking as he took a seat next to her. "So we're going to go in hard via Mako insertion, crush whatever flashlight heads get in our way, rescue her if she needs rescuing and capture her if she doesn't."

"And make sure Mitch doesn't try to immediately jump her bones." I mumbled under my breath, just loud enough so only Chelsea, who was passing by my elbow and Tali, who was seated next to me, could hear it.

Tali gave a sigh of annoyance while almost instantly as the Sole Survivor whirled on the long-range specialist and quizzed him, my little tidbit completely derailing the tenseness of the meeting which was pretty much what I was going for. "Is that true Lieutenant Woley? Wolf says you prefer your women…blue."

Woley stared at me, his usually cheerful eyes an icy blue. "I swear to God Wolf it was one fucking time!"

I raised fingers, counting off the, "one time," as I went. "I mean there was the dancer on Omega, the nice one with the purple facepaint that we ran into on Elysium, the other one on-"

"That's enough!" The commander intervened. "Wolf, I'll give you a break since you just got back into this but I expect more professionalism from you starting this moment, at least during the mission briefings. And that goes for you two as well." He pointed to his sister who had the most angelic look on her face while Woley looked like he still just wanted to continue the verbal sparring match which was about the norm for our interactions.

"Sure thing Shepard." I knew when to sit down and shut up, this was definitely one of those times not to test my boundaries.

"Chelsea, please continue."

He waved a hand and his twin began to speak, the moment being over. "As for the ground team, our vehicle can hold six but as we're hoping to make a pickup we will only be taking five for this operation. It basically goes without saying but me and bro will be going down planet-side and joining us to start is Wolf and Tali."

The Lion of Elysium spoke up at this point. "We haven't seen either of you in combat," he turned to me, "personally at least in your case Wolf. This is your evaluation period and I want to see the very best you two have to offer so don't hold anything back. The final member of our team will be the lieutenant himself." I looked over to Mitch, waggled an eyebrow suggestively and the shorter man shook his head in response, quickly dragging his finger across his throat. "Just in case, I'd like to have our top ranked personnel there for this one as we figure out our…fireteam dynamics."

I have a strange feeling that people don't quite trust me. Can't say that I blame 'em too much really though. "Rest assured though," he turned to the rest of the team, "we'll be seeing plenty of action and every single one of you will get more than your share of the fighting if you give it enough time."

"Good." Our krogan teammate declared in his gravelly voice, kicking back in his chair as he did so. "I didn't sign up to sit around on a ship all day Shepard."

"Caleb said it, you'll all get your chance so be ready to go when the bell rings." Our non-human crew members looked at her curiously, her hazel eyes dancing in mirth as she realized her mistake. "Sorry, human phrase. It just means when the time comes."

"Any other questions?" Caleb let a few seconds pass. "Good, everyone who's going down get your gear ready, we'll be there soon." Before the team could leave completely, he held up a hand to halt their exit. "For the ground team members not joining us, that doesn't mean you should just sit around on your hands either. The situation is largely unknown which means we might need help at a moment's notice so be on high alert and ready to provide support just in case things go poorly."

A general chorus of affirmation went around the room before the meeting was finally officially over. Time to get suited up.

 **LINE BREAK**

"Wolf, could you help me with these seals please?" I heard signs of struggling as a voice echoed to me before a loud curse gave away the owner's identity. "Work you bosh'tet!"

My head retreated from the locker I currently had it buried in and whipped around to see Tali struggling with the armor plating that fit over her environment suit. "Yeah, sure thing. Be over there in one sec." I finished final checks on my collection of firearms, all four of my standard tools of choice being ready to spew death at whatever genocidal robots got in the way. "Alright, sorry about that."

I bent down behind her and clasped the ceramic plating into their respective slots, making extra sure not to make any unneeded contact with the rather flighty young woman just in case. "So, how you feeling right now?"

Moving to fasten up the other leg, Tali answered my question as I did so. "A little nervous to be honest. I've been in a couple little fights but," she exhaled loudly, "nothing as big as this where we're heading full-on into the enemy. In most of my travelling, I've tried my best to avoid confrontation if at all possible."

"You'll do just fine, your bodyguard's not gonna let a damn thing happen to you." A loud click signaled another armored piece was now in place and I moved up to do the back of her chest piece. "Besides, knowing our personnel, it'll be Chels and yours truly up on the front lines tanking the brunt of the gunfire. If we go by standard Alliance formations you'll be one flank of our diamond." Finishing up with sealing her protective gear, I circled to the front so we were face to face. "And that means Caleb himself will be right next to you, protecting you from anybody that I don't manage to wipe out." Even through the visor, I could just make out a little luminescent blush on her face that I would have completely missed if I hadn't happened to have lived with a quarian for the last few months. Cocking my head as I looked down at her, I couldn't help smirking. "You uh, don't happen to have a little crush on the commander by any chance do you? Just speaking out of curiosity here."

"Keelah," she accented the last syllable in frustration, "I'm trying to get ready for battle and all you want to talk about is little schoolgirl stuff."

"Think about what just happened a few minutes ago upstairs." Her hand covered her face in dismay as she thought back to the most recent example of my favorite past-time of prodding Woley. "Yeah. And those particular little incidents I teased Mitch about happened around five years ago so you've still got a long way to go now that I know about this." I turned my back to her. "Now could you get this last seal on my armor? I used to be able to do it myself but I'm not as flexible as I was a few years back."

"As long as you stay quiet, sure." She spoke in a deadly whisper.

"Blackmail huh? I like your style." As she returned the favor, I began to talk again. "In all seriousness though, just stick with us in this battle, do your part, complete the objective and come home safely. That's all that matters in the end."

"It's just, I don't want to let anyone down." She stopped messing with my armor and I saw her helmet poke out to the side so we could make eye contact. "This is such a huge responsibility. I'm just a quarian girl on her pilgrimage and now I'm tied up in hunting down a rogue Spectre with a geth army at his back. How can I measure up to that?"

"Hey, whenever you feel pressured just think about this." Tali tilted her head and looked at me curiously. "At least you're not a former Marine/Spec Ops soldier with a violent history to go along with a troubled past. You've got a fresh start to make whatever impression you want on the people around us so take full advantage of that ability. Besides, from what I've seen I think you're pretty damn talented yourself so all you have to do is just show that to the commander too. You'll do just fine, alright? I used to teach young Marines so I know potential when I see it."

She fidgeted a little at my compliment but apparently the first thing I said was what stood out to her. "I take it you're talking about yourself with that first part."

"Yeah, yeah I am." Both of us had finished our preparations for the coming mission and now we were just waiting around for the commanders to say it was go time.

"Well?"

Now it was my turn to stare at her in curiosity. "Well what?"

"Are you gonna tell me about your, 'troubled past?' We seem to have a few minutes before we leave so we might as well chat until then. You hinted at it back at the shop but said you didn't wanna talk about it."

"I said to look up Torfan and you'll see everything you need to know about me and what I can do in a fight."

She whined in her adorable accent. "But it's not the same as hearing it from you."

Well, considering this little talk was meant to get her calmed down a bit and let the pre-fight jitters settle, telling a couple stories is really the least I can do. "Fine, I used to be on a team with five other Marine specialists, Lieutenant Woley was there too."

"I do remember you saying that you and the lieutenant have known each other for a long time. Is that where you met?"

I flashed a grin towards the young woman. "Actually, Mitch and I had met before that even, we go all the way back to Boot Camp so I guess it's been about seven years now. We sat next to each other on the bus and ever since then we've been scuffling pretty much non-stop. Usually with each other but every once in a while we'd switch it up and take out some pirates or slavers."

She coughed loudly. "…Torfan?"

"Right. Well the six of us went in to rescue some Marines who had lost radio contact with our HQ. To sum things up, we got ambushed, three of the six of us died and one girl was paralyzed from the neck down…Mitch and I were the only ones to escape without any lasting damage. Well…" I pointed to the large scar that ran through my artificial eye, "unless you count this of course. Nasty SIU fucker named Granin Rokneba nailed me with one of the knives I carry around now. Had to get an artificial one to replace the real thing afterwards."

"Wait. You still have the knife on you?"

I just nodded and gave a little shrug as she mumbled something about humans being odd in a tone of incredulity. "It's a nice blade so I'd hate for it to go to waste, plus it has sentimental value."

Unsheathing the angled weapon, I handed it over for her to examine. "Who's Sierra?"

"That was our fireteam's designation, the six of us as a whole went by that name whenever our commanding officers addressed us as a whole."

"I see." She handed the weapon back to me. "So what happened after that?"

At that moment Caleb Shepard came storming through the hangar with his brow furrowed and grey eyes ablaze with intensity. "Let's go team, we're in ideal position over Therum now."

"Looks like it'll have to be another time then Tali." An apologetic look worked its way across my face. "Remember what I said, just stick by us, don't be a hero and fight like hell without any hesitation when the time comes." I turned to the lieutenant commander. "Caleb sir, when's the ship touching down?"

"No room for that." Chelsea answered with an unsettlingly exuberant expression. "We're dropping down in the Mako."

"You're fucking with me right?" Laughing loudly, I looked over to her twin brother only to see he looked completely serious. "There is no way in hell we're falling out of the sky in that giant metal deathtrap."

"It's perfectly safe." The Alliance hero climbed into the driver's seat. "This vehicle was specifically designed with this kind of thing in mind so we should be fine."

"What's the big deal Wolf?" Mitch climbed into the passenger seat. "You've done a biotic freefall before with no issue at all."

"Well yeah, I'm in complete control in that scenario." I took another look at my coffin. "In that thing, not so much."

"Just get in."

I heaved a loud sigh. "Yes sir Lieutenant Commander Shepard."

Climbing into the backseat of the fighting vehicle, Caleb started to bark out assignments as the dock bay slowly opened in front of us, revealing a rather hefty fall onto a volcanic-looking planet. "I don't know what the situation will be once we touch down so I'm gonna go over this now." He slowly started checking the systems, making sure all was in order and ready to go. "Lieutenant Woley, you're my co-pilot and navigator, something happens to me, you take over the wheel."

"Roger that."

"Chelsea, you're our gunner so…shoot things."

"Can do, little bro." She exclaimed, obviously pleased with the orders.

"Tali, I know you're a whiz with tech," I looked over to see her positively beaming in delight at the compliment, "so you're monitoring shield levels on this thing. If we take hits and our defenses start to get dangerously low you do whatever you have to in order to make sure our defenses stay up."

"Of course commander."

"Wolf, you uh," he looked around the vehicle, "try not to throw up in my new tank."

"Thanks for that sir." Well it looks like maybe the man does have a sense of humor after all. "I'll do my part to fight the good fight."

"That's what I wanted to hear. Now that we're all clear, here's going to be our formation." As he spoke the vehicle now actually started rolling towards the exit. "Chelsea, you and Mr. Wolfert will be our points. A hostile shows his head, you two take it out and if you can't then yell out where he's at." We both nodded confirmation. "Mitch, you'll take the wing on whatever side Chelsea's on, Tali, you'll take Wolf's side and I'll be playing quarterback in the middle, directing our force wherever I see fit." He paused for a brief moment, the ramp was now mere feet in front of us. "Any questions then? No? Good, let's roll out."

All five of us rolled backwards off the ship and the only thing I saw besides the interior of the Alliance assault vehicle was space and the quickly retreating Normandy. "Holy fuck!" I looked over to the gunner seat to see that Chelsea Shepard was losing her absolute mind laughing. "You're insane! You're all insane! How fucked up is it that I'm the only one freaking out here?"

I held onto the metal bars on the side that were probably put there for just this occasion while simultaneously my stomach led a mutiny against the rest of my body…I honestly was not sure who was going to win either. "Shepard…you better land this thing soon otherwise I might not be able to follow through on that promise I just made."

"You hold that shit in until we hit the ground soldier." He calmly activated the jets to cushion our fall, all the while scolding me as if I was a green recruit. "Now feel free to throw up."

After checking to make sure that we weren't under immediate fire, I fell out of the Mako onto my knees, ripped off my mask and promptly made the world's best first impression on a combat mission ever. "You okay there Wolf? Everything good buddy?"

Mitch was crouched down next to me with a hand on my back, trying not to laugh himself to death. "Fine and fucking dandy. Remind me why I signed up for this shit again?"

"Because the pay is really good, you get to hang out with me, shoot shit and leave the fact that you went on a near-suicidal rampage behind you?"

"Well shit." I smirked at the sniper. "That got fucking real in a hurry."

He turned to the commander and signaled that we'd need another minute. "So are you up for this or what big guy? You need me to give you some kind of inspiring pep talk?"

"Suddenly I'm all good." I stood back up and shook off the nausea as best I could. "Just get me to the part where we're actually fighting on solid ground and I'll be set."

"Glad to hear it. Now get back in and let's get going."

The two of us rejoined the rest of the ground team and Caleb took back off. "Joker radioed in and said there's some strange readings off in that direction." He pointed ahead to a path that was flanked on both sides by bright orange lava, fucking sweet.

For a few moments, all was silent and then Chelsea swiveled around to face me. "So, you gonna be good to fight or what? How long's it been since you've gotten in a real battle anyway? Will you be rusty at all?"

Wow. She just delivered those three questions in about a half-second. "When you guys found me I had just taken out a few assassins coming after Tali, you do know that right?"

Rolling her eyes, the commander retorted. "I meant before that obviously, ya damn smartass."

I laughed inwardly. "A lot shorter than you'd think surprisingly, I uh, I kept somewhat busy ever since I got out a couple years ago. Even before I joined up with the Wyrwulves."

"So you did a lot of practice at the fire range then?" She looked at me curiously.

"You could call it that…it's a long story."

"Well nothing else is happening right now."

Trying to convey that I didn't wanna talk about that shit at all, let alone right now, I continued. I'm sure they'd get me to spill later but this moment was not even remotely the right time. "I mean it's a **really** long story and not a very happy one either."

"You're talking to someone who hasn't exactly had a perfect history, you do know that right?" The blonde tilted her head and the visor retreated back into her helmet just so I could clearly see the confused expression on her face.

"Tell you what, we get back to the ship and I'll tell you anything you want about after I got out of the military. As fucked up as they might be, I will spare no details." I held my hands up in a peace offering, hoping the thing was over.

"Done. I will hold you to that though."

"Sure, whatever. How about you keep a look out for murderous robots instead of interrogating me about my personal life in the meantime?" I snapped at the woman before sighing loudly. "Sorry, you didn't deserve that. It's just, an ugly deal like I said so I don't like to talk about it."

"I understand." Her finger seemed to absentmindedly trace the scar on her left cheek. Well I'm just going to go ahead and assume that one's tied to Akuze. Which is also definitely a conversation to have another time. "Everyone has things they'd rather not share sometimes."

Mitch yelled loudly, interrupting our little moment. "We've been spotted. Geth dropship just dropped ground troops dead ahead so brace yourself for evasive actions!"

Caleb loudly projected over our conversation and the rattle of the vehicle. "Everyone switch to the shared comm channel. We're using that from here on out."

All four of us loudly gave the affirmative and I tapped Tali on the shoulder, giving her a thumbs-up. "Here we go Tali, just remember what I told you."

Chelsea laughed loudly as she began ripping into the robots with machine gun fire before sending a volley with the main cannon, spraying metal parts everywhere. "Ho-ly shit!" She cackled again. "Did you see those fuckers fly?"

Well, there's something to be said for exuberance I guess, gotta love what you do. "The fuck is that thing?" Mitch exclaimed as a large, four-legged spidery silver tank touched down.

"It's an armature!" Tali yelled in alarm. "Watch out for its siege pulse cannon, if it hits us our shields will be wiped out at the very least and that's a best case scenario."

"Got it."

Despite his words, Shep drove straight at the thing as its massive head reared back and fired a bright blue orb at us. "Hey Shepard, you might wanna, you know…fucking dodge!"

"Settle down Wolf, we'll be fine." It was as if we were playing chicken with the thing now. As the destructive sphere rapidly filled our windshield, it suddenly disappeared from view as the commander timed it so the blast flew just under us, jumping over with the jet propulsion. "Chelsea, bring its shields down with the machine gun and get ready to fire with the cannon on my order."

"Your wish is my command." The rattle of automatic gunfire now filled the air, the noise practically deafening.

My panic level was rising once again, I had a really bad feeling about what the newly minted Spectre was about to do. This time though, Tali was the one to question what was happening. "Shepard?"

"Hold on tight!" He leaned forward, fully focusing on what was happening as we drove under the slow-moving machine. Right before we exited the other side, he slammed the airbrake and swung the back end of the Mako around as if he was executing a leg sweep on a tall opponent.

With a resounding crash, the Armature fell to the ground, its weakened leg causing too much instability for the thing to stay upright. "Chelsea now, aim for the head!"

The other human Spectre deliberately aimed the large weapon before releasing a massive blast that sped towards the neck of the machine and smashed into the light that topped it. "Headshot motherfucker!"

I just stared at the two vastly different Shepards before leaning forward so I was now just behind Caleb's shoulder. "You're sure that you two are twins right? No weird hospital baby switch or anything like that?"

"I do wonder sometimes myself." He slammed the thing in reverse before continuing on our way. "I guess it hasn't been too bad so far though, don't have to do nearly as much talking in the spotlight ever since she joined up."

"Hey, whatever works I guess."

As we rounded the corner, a large closed off gate was directly in front of us. "Hey Caleb," Mitch zoomed in on his tactical readouts of the path, "there's a side-path here to the right that we can take instead of slamming into those three nasty-looking turrets head on. Just a suggestion."

"That's boring though." Chelsea exclaimed. "Let's fucking take 'em right now!"

"I'm with Mitch on this one." Tali hesitantly put forward. "I'd rather avoid the three heavy emplacements if possible."

The Sole Survivor looked to me for support. "Sorry, if we were on foot I'd be all for it but I'd rather avoid having another heart attack."

"You all suck and you're boring."

Caleb swerved to the side as his older twin pouted. It was only a few seconds before he swore loudly and swerved as a missile from a turret passed just to our left. "You got your wish sis, open up."

The guntower only lasted a few seconds as the N7 blasted away with a combination of machine gun fire and the heavy cannon. "You're telling me we couldn't just do that three more times? Again, you guys are no fun at all." I think she's more of an adrenaline junkie than I am, holy fuck.

We drove the tank into the clearing and as we did so, the geth launched a massive ambush. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." The man was muttering under his breath as I flew sideways into the wall while he swerved like a madman to avoid the incoming fire. "Bring those bastards down now!" Once again, Chelsea opened fire on the killer robots that were waiting for us on the hilltop. Unfortunately, our luck apparently ran out as one of the rockets slammed into our side. "Tali, shield level report!"

Her fingers flew over a digital display but despite the situation, she showed no sense of alarm. "Ten percent. I can divert energy from the main cannon into our shields for a temporary boost in levels but Chelsea will be without our primary weapon for the next half-minute until the vehicle's unit can fully recharge."

"Do it now!" He yelled while activating the boosters again, sending us skyward. "Chelsea make sure to manage heat levels on that thing, if you-"

"Who was it that went through Soldier spec here?" Despite our current state, the woman was still cheerful as hell while she mowed down a geth wielding a rocket launcher that had stepped out from behind a rock. "That's right, me. So you do your job keeping us in one piece and I'll do what I do best."

"Roger that." He jerked the wheel to the side again.

Somehow, Shepard avoided the rest of the geth until our shields were back to normal and once that happened his older twin blew the rest apart in a matter of seconds. With the intended trap now broken wide open, we advanced forward until a big-ass gate blocked our way.

As the Mako came to a halt at the fortification that stood in our path, Caleb began to go into what I quickly identified as, "Commander Mode." "Alright, there's two gatehouses so I'm guessing we'll need to hit a release on both sides to continue on." He jumped out and signaled for us to follow while telleing Mitch to stay. "Mitch, switch into the turret to cover us just in case. I'll take Tali into the one on the right. Chelsea, you and Wolf have the other one."

She cheekily saluted. "Sure thing bro." The woman-child took off at a sprint. "Keep up Wolfy." Fucking. Hell. I hate that nickname so damn much. "Stack up on the door."

"Can do."

The two of us stood just outside the entrance, staring at each other and waiting for someone to make the first move. "Usually, I prefer to have a gentleman hold the door open for me but there's two problems with that."

Without waiting for her to finish her hypothetical scenario I cut in, both through the doorway and into the conversation. "The first is probably the fact that I'm not exactly what you'd call a gentleman." A geth popped out from behind an overturned box and I blasted it away with a trio of quick shotgun blasts from my semi-automatic weapon. "And I'm not really sure about the second one."

A rocket trooper launched an explosive at the two of us and I instinctively raised a Bio-Cade to absorb the blow. "Lift it!" While my ears were still ringing from the explosion, I hurled a pull that send the robot slowly floating back towards us, allowing Chelsea to perforate it repeatedly with the N7 Typhoon Light Machine Gun she carried. "I think that might be it."

"So that's why they made you a Spectre then," I flipped the glowing switch to unlock the fence on our side, "your natural mastery of the art of understatement. Also, you never told me the second problem with me holding the thing for you."

She tucked the weapon onto her back and began to walk back out. I could practically hear the stupid grin on her face as she spoke now. "Well there wasn't exactly a door, ya know?"

"This is my life now." I piled back into the Mako and rejoined Mitch. "Does the Alliance manufacture crazy or do I just happen to stumble into it all the time?"

"Speak for yourself Butcher." She threw a friendly wink through the visor.

…Yeah I guess it's a bit hypocritical for me to ask the military to have changed in the two years I'd been absent, after all they accepted me in the first place so what does that say?

As Caleb and Tali joined the party, we took back off and Chelsea resumed her role as the gunner. "So First Lieutenant Woley, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that you get to keep your job for a little while longer."

"Oh?" He turned in his seat and looked at the woman for a brief moment with a raised eyebrow peering out from behind his eyepiece.

"Yeah, Wolfy hasn't exactly lost his skills, at least not yet."

"Well you have to have something in the first place to be able to lose it." I could just see Mitch chuckling to himself as he said that.

"Fuck you too Woley."

The commander himself looked over his shoulder as we drove. "So his performance was adequate then?"

"There were only two of them but he hit the first with a few shotgun blasts, absorbed a rocket with a big purple-"

"Bio-Cade."

"Bio-Cade and then set me up using his biotics to take the robotic son of a bitch out without any problems."

"Not bad." He shook his head. "Between you and Tali I think we've made two solid additions to the team. That was good work back there with the overload-carnage shot combination."

"Th- thank you lieutenant commander."

"Please, just call me Shepard, the full title's not necessary at all."

Somehow we made it back to the Mako, heavily burdened with Tali's jelly-like state courtesy of the commander. Can't really say that I blamed her though. Some big handsome hero comes in and treats her like an actual person, instead of the usual way quarians are looked down on, what else is she going to do but have a little thing for the guy? Hell, I probably could have had the same effect too thinking about it but the only problem is, well that I'm me and not the Alliance hero himself. Nope, instead of that guy I'm sarcastic, fairly scarred and come with a sadistic reputation. The funniest thing though about her little crush is I'm ninety-eight percent sure he's completely oblivious so far to his effect on the poor girl.

The five of us resumed our scenic road trip through the volcanic terrain, taking out a few more armatures on the way. However, there thankfully was no ramming this time as Mitch was able to spot them from a far distance, after which Chelsea quickly lit the big bastards up and Caleb jumped a stray shot from a rocket or pulse cannon every now and then.

Bored with the fact I had nothing to do I turned to Tali. "So, how you holding together after our first engagement Miss Zorah?"

Her six fingers flew over the digital screen in front of her that monitored our electronics. "Really well actually. I guess you could say it's a huge relief to have the first fight out of the way and in the past." Somehow, she wasn't even looking at what she was doing at this point and instead turned to face me. "Thanks for talking to me beforehand, your advice really helped out Wolf."

"Hey that's what I'm here for. Sage advice and shooting robots in the Goddamn face." I leaned back, crossed my arms behind my head and stared at the ceiling before switching to a private channel with the girl for a brief moment. "But I bet having the commander right next to you helped you out a little bit…or maybe it made you even more nervous?" I refused to look down as I could feel a pair of glowing eyes staring daggers at me. "Alright, alright, no more jokes about it for the rest of this mission, I promise."

"Thank you…bosh'tet."

Mitch turned around from the passenger seat, we had made our way through a couple tunnels and now it looked like our path was completely blocked. "Hey, we're gonna have to get out and walk it from here. No way in hell we're getting the Mako through this junk heap, even with the jump jets."

"Roger that LT." I opened the door, switched to the group channel and pulled out my scoped Mattock rifle.

"Listen up team." The younger Shep chimed in as we grouped up outside the vehicle. "Assemble in the formation I talked about earlier. Wolf, Chels," he nodded at the two of us, "lead the way and shout out the first thing that moves. Just remember everyone, we're here to secure Miss T'Soni so make sure you see a flashlight and not a face before you plug it."

"Commander, if I see an asari you want me to just put her in stasis?"

"Good thinking Wolf, if you see any of her species go right ahead and attempt to trap them in a field, we'll need to talk to her anyway since we don't have a detailed facial description." He pulled the pistol off his hip. "I'll just have to make sure to pick my shots so I don't detonate it by accident."

Chelsea cut in with a laugh. "Be tough to explain that one to the Council. 'Yeah, we kind of blew up the matriarch's daughter by accident.' Bet they'd just love that shit."

I peered through the enhanced device mounted on my weapon as we stepped through the little gap. Already, I could see a bulb-head hiding behind a rock. "Mitch, looks like a rocket trooper up ahead."

"One sec." He leaned out and in half a second the top of the geth's neck was no longer attached to its head. "Clear to move." The bad thing I'd been told about fighting geth is they communicate instantly through a sort of hive mind, the first shot means every single one of the metal soldiers knows exactly where you are. "Husks incoming!"

Holy fuck…I'd seen some terrible things in my life but these abominations were something else. Even with Jenkins' warning I was completely unprepared for the sheer perversity of the things. If it wasn't for the clearly bipedal form and decaying remnants of flesh, I would've guessed the forms weren't human. But with the added moans, as if they were in agony every second of their life, if you could call it that, I knew that what I was staring at, some point or another, was an innocent human being.

But it wasn't anymore. "Mitch, geth snipers in back!" I yelled out while erecting a biotic wall. "Can you take 'em if we cover you from these fucks?"

"Tali, go ahead and protect Woley's back." Caleb stepped forward next to the two of us up front. "We've got this but just in case something slips by, use that shotgun you're so handy with."

"Of course Shepard."

The zombie-like creations were clawing at the Bio-Cade, trying to break through my temporary defense. I looked back at my boss in disgusted confusion. "What the fuck did the geth do these people to make them like this boss?"

"It's some kind of tech they've devised. A giant needle-like thing." He shook his head sadly. "But drop that shield and let's put an end to these living nightmares."

Instantly, I obeyed his order and as I did so, Chelsea let her machine gun rip into the creatures and Caleb swept his hand across his body, ensnaring the grotesque, electronically-infused abominations in a massive Reave attack that spread wider than any I'd seen before. Seeing my chance, I wound up and pitched an unstable Warp orb into the center, tossing the husks into the nearby rocks with the loud squish of meat accompanied by the crunch of cybernetics.

With Mitch and Tali doing their job of handling the geth perfectly to go along with our own work, there were soon no enemies left in the immediate vicinity. The three veteran Normandy crewmembers still looked extremely on guard however, considering we had apparently wiped out that party of geth. Wondering what was going on, I poked Mitch. "What's the deal bro?"

"Last time we ran into those things a fucking giant geth showed up. We call it a, 'Wraith.'" Large spikes suddenly stood out from behind a rock and seeing them, our entire team paused as the commander raised a fist to signal a halt. Mitch whispered over the comm channel. "Fucking hell. Here we go."

I stared in a mixture of disgust and horror as a sickly looking blackish-purple machine that had to be over a dozen feet tall stood straight up into the air. The spikes on its back, or, "Dragon's Teeth," as Jenkins called 'em, were clearly the source of the zombie attack we had just survived considering Shepard's explanation. Fucking thing must have carried the poor bastards on its back as if it was an armored transport vehicle, except completely different and all the way fucked up.

Despite my own sense of logic, I almost swore that I could see a purple barrier surround the hulking body of the behemoth and all six of its heads that looked in basically every direction. When a large rock floated up from the ground, surrounded by a blue hue and sped towards our group, it confirmed my suspicions.

"Fucking scatter!" Not caring about the rest of the team's eardrums, I yelled out a warning of the incoming small boulder, giving the team just enough time to duck before it shattered harmlessly into tiny bits of debris overhead.

Just what the fuck did the geth cook up in their absence from the rest of the galaxy?

 **A/N: I hate apologizing but I have to do it again. A few personal things happened in the last few weeks that had me throwing a bit of a self-pity party along with being extremely demotivated so writing got put on the back burner, plus I just didn't really like a few things in the original version of this chapter so I overhauled it significantly which delayed it another week or so. Thankfully I'm all good now though and will be back on schedule going forward.**

 **Much thanks to my Beta Ranger Station Charlie for being awesome.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Darth Slainous: Good guesses, I do have a long term plan for who Wolf's eventualy LI will be but I'm not going to spoil it here ;D**

 **GJD: Wait…is that a reference to Scott "Razor Ramone" Hall or is there another Scott Hall that I'm not aware of? Either way I'll take the nice review though, lol.**

 **Meatzman2/Stormdragon981: You guys both had similar reviews so I didn't really want to repeat myself twice, lol. First off, thanks a ton for the reviews but I have to respectfully disagree with the idea that grown men don't have people they have legitimate hero worship for (have you ever seen middle-aged guys watch sports?) I'm sorry it annoyed you both but Shepard's basically the one who inspired Wolf to go down the path he did with the Alliance so a sense of that's natural in my opinion, but it definitely will lessen over time as he learns about the real M!Shep and that he's a human with faults just like everybody else.**

 **Dekuton: Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it! That scenario you posited definitely could come to pass down the line and who knows where it'll go as far as Wolf/Ash interactions ;) Yeah you've probably picked up on this but I've really enjoyed writing the brief Wolf/Tali interactions there's been so far which has been an honestly big surprise to me. Their personalities clashing is just a ton of fun, so there will definitely be more of that as Wolf sort of takes the young quarian under his wing.**

 **Romance Dagger: Hahaha, that is honesty the best Wolf description I've heard so thanks for that. Yeah I actually haven't written that in-detpth convo yet but knowing Wolf's immense levels of tact I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong :/**

 **RSC: Welp, so much for that consistent schedule thing right?**

 **Thanks for the advice bud, I don't understand it since I personally know more than a few adults who are that way but it's definitely going to lessen naturally over time just as Wolf comes to know Caleb as a person and not this all-powerful paragon of Alliance justice.**

 **Fallout Fan: Well, hopefully you enjoyed the first real big combat chapter! Wolf was definitely trained in the use of the omni-tool but N class was five years ago and since then he's had Mitch/Daxy around to fall back on when it comes to more tech-related stuff. Don't worry though, he's going to be forced to be reacquainted with hacking sooner rather than later to his own displeasure ;)**

 **11: Ahhh, it's always good to hear your particular brand of crazy my friend. Never stop being you.**

 **Yeah I can't really speak on it considering I'm the one with all these random ideas floating around in my head but figuring out that there would be a third person to fill out the Akuze backstory I mentioned alllll the fucking way back was definitely pretty safe to assume, whether you'd guess it was another Shep or not. (And I won't say which is which, but three of those five pairings are correct so I'll leave it to your unique brain to figure out which is which :P)**


	7. Ups and Downs of Life

"Tali watch out!" Caleb Shepard yelled before tackling the quarian girl to the ground and extending a barrier around the two of them. Not a second too late either as one of the javelin-like spikes on its back that the massive machine had hurled, connected where the young engineer had been. Because of the Lion's interference however, the spear had sped just wide, not doing anyone permanent harm. First it throws rocks, now spears? God what century are we in?

I pulled the trigger time after time over the rock I was behind, the single-fire rounds of my Mattock not even making a dent seemingly in the geth's shield. "What the fuck is this thing and how'd the geth make a biotic machine?"

"Don't know." Chelsea leaned out and hosed down the nightmare with bullets from her light machine gun. After getting off a bit of fire, she practically slammed herself into the ground, a biotic orb flying over her head just a fraction of a second afterwards. "But it's here now apparently and that means we get to kill it."

"That's great and all but how?" I leaned out and hurled a warp, testing the artificial biotic's defenses. "Well…usually that at least does something."

"Keep its defenses low and just wait for a chance." The commander began to take over the situation. I however was not in a great tactical position as the thing was completely pinning me down with its seemingly endless supply of Dragon's Teeth. "Don't do anything rash."

"Uh, could use a little help here." I ducked as another flew just above my head. "Really do not feel like taking one of these things to the chest or face unless completely necessary."

"Chelsea, hit him with a Carnage Shot on my mark." I could see the hero of the Alliance readying an attack combo as a Reave followed by a Singularity flew from his hands. The Reave drained some of the monster's reserve while the second attack, managed to stagger it a bit as the gravitational pull caused it to stumble backwards and he yelled at his older sister. "Do it now!"

A deafening blast flew from the blonde's shotgun and the black machine took a few steps backward but still kept its footing. Even though the combined attack didn't completely have its intended effect, I still took advantage of the momentary lull in giant projectiles being hurled at me and biotically charged through the rocks to rejoin my team.

"Thanks for the help Sheps."

Caleb gave a terse nod as he took a few shots from his pistol. Now that I think about it, that was the first time he even used a firearm in the fighting so far, although when you've got biotics like that another weapon is almost unnecessary. "Listen, this thing's barriers are ridiculously strong but it can't regenerate them once they're taken out as far as we could tell from our first encounter with these things. That means we have to keep moving and whittle it down up until the point we can attack the creature itself."

"Mitch, use your cloak to flank around and find a vantage point, hit it with tech whenever you see an opportunity." He raised another barrier to redirect the incoming projectile before continuing. "Chelsea, I need you to stick with Wolf and keep up the pressure with bullets along with the occasional grenade, just make sure to keep a few in reserve just in case."

Our impromptu meeting was broken up as the thing smashed through the rock we were huddled behind, using its mechanical servos to destructive effect. "Scatter!" Chelsea went one way as she screamed, Mitch straight-up disappeared with a little shimmer and the other two went the other way, I however did not move. "Wolf get the hell out of there, are you trying to get killed?" She pulled out the dual machine pistols on her hips and blasted at the hulking machine, trying to get its attention.

Ignoring her, I ran straight at the thing. "I'm buying time. Get to cover and make a plan to bring this fucker down. Quickly if possible." Fortunately, although the geth was massive in size it was somewhat offset by the fact that it was slow as shit and I was planning to use that to my advantage.

I hurled warp after warp to try and damage the barrier. As I saw it start to weaken I felt a little bit better about my chances because so far it'd shown no signs of slowing down. The fact that it carried no weapons besides the massive spikes on its back allowed me to get up close and dodge the sluggish but heavy attacks that were incoming but one blow could be it for me.

Ducking low, I rolled under the attack aimed at my head before slicing at the, "knee," of the creature, my talon dagger cutting right through the barrier, as I moved between its legs and under its six heads. "Holy fuck." I hurled myself to the side as the thing turned much quicker than I expected, swiveling its upper body one-hundred eighty degrees instead of its whole body.

"Wolf get out of there!"

"Chill commander," I gave a little chuckle to show confidence that I was not anywhere close to feeling, "I've got this oversized hunk of metal." With one arm it launched a throw orb that my hastily strengthened barrier absorbed before blinking out of existence and with the other it swung at me. I only had the time to curse audibly before the strike connected as if I was a human baseball and I flew towards an outcropping of rocks, my back smashing into them with a crack of armored plating.

The pain was brief and intense before my medi-gel kicked in and I stumbled forward onto my knees, only to be treated to a view of the single largest biotic attack that I'd ever seen exploding at the feet of the creature, serving to finally eliminate its biotic defense mechanism. "Tali and Caleb hit it with Overloads. Keep it away from Wolfert." Caleb coolly gave quick orders as he jumped into the fray, left hand forward and launching beam-like biotic attacks at the thing's head while bursts of electricity flew from the omni-tools of my other teammates.

"Chelsea, hit it with an Inferno." One set of lights from the Wraith's, "eyes," went dark and from my spectator's view I had an inkling of what the commander was now going for.

"Fireball coming in!" The female Shepard declared with glee as she tossed a flaming grenade at the geth's legs, effectively super heating the metal there. Tali followed that up with a concentrated Overload to another face while Mitch's Mantis cracked the optics of another, effectively blinding it on a full one hundred eighty degree plane.

"Cover me."

I brought my Lancer assault rifle to my shoulder and fired a couple bursts before Caleb got close enough that I had to stop as he slammed a biotically-augmented fist into the leg of the creature, punching right through thanks to the weakened state Chelsea had put it in. As the creature plummeted to the the earth, he pressed the advantage, clambering up the monstrosity until he was standing above its lowered mass and hurling warp after warp into the head of the Wraith until it was nothing but a twisted mass of darkened metal.

Holy fuck.

As I got up I could practically feel all eyes on me, especially Shepard, but surprisingly he didn't make a move. "Chelsea, take point. Mitch and Tali you take the wings. Wolf and I will sit in the back."

"Yes sir."

The three snapped to attention and I fell in step next to the blonde, feeling a lot more sheepish than I had in a long while. "I have a feeling this isn't a strategic move if you don't mind me saying so." Opening up a private channel with the man next to me, I addressed the new formation.

"Depends on your definition of strategic, I consider keeping team morale at a high extremely important so in that case, this is just that." He paused for a moment and sighed before starting in as we made our way through the rocky terrain which for now was empty of robots. Great, here comes the scolding. "You know we're going to be outnumbered everywhere we go, right?"

"Yeah…I mean we're not exactly a platoon here so I kinda figured." I wasn't quite sure where he was going with this one.

"I know what you were trying to do back there and I do appreciate it, that willingness to do what it takes to get the job done is essential. Keeping that thing's attention might have seemed like a good idea but in reality you were hampering us since none of us could fire on the Wraith which means you could have gotten yourself killed for no good reason." That…actually made a lot of sense. Guess I was still used to fighting primarily solo or at most in pairs. It'd been about five years since I've really done any actual teams work and my tactical side in that sense was sorely underdeveloped from that long absence. Learning how to function as one part of a group wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would. "If this mission is going to be successful we'll need to work in perfect unison and execute flawlessly. With the size of our teams, even one casualty could spell disaster for the whole group so that means no more suicidal diversions from you. Whether we succeed or fail, we're doing it together. Am I making myself clear here Wolf? This is a group effort and you're a key component."

I straightened up and in a much more cheerful manner, addressed the Spectre. "Crystal sir, I'll do better going forward."

"Good. You know, I studied your file extensively and did my own research before agreeing to the lieutenant's proposal. Everyone I've talked to, they all say the same thing, that you're an extremely talented soldier and from what I've seen so far they're right. All you need to do is shake off the rust a little alright?" He actually clapped me on the back before extending a hand. "For what it counts, I've got faith in you so get back up there on the front line and do what you do best."

"Sure thing Caleb." Vigorously, I took his hand and shook it with my own. "And I appreciate you not chewing me out in front of the rest of the team, for the record."

"Like I said, part of my job as commander is to make sure everyone's in top shape mentally as well as physically. Yelling at you like that would serve zero purpose." He started to walk away before giving a final comment. "Oh and I talked to Mitch a little about your…habits prior to us touching down." Behind my mask, I raised an eyebrow, curious about what he could be referring to. He seemed almost pained to have to say what he was going to say right now. "If you **really** feel the need to, go ahead and crack bad jokes as long as it doesn't hamper the team's state of readiness. The LT said it's a central part of your fighting state of mind so I'm willing to give it a…let's call it a trial run to see how it goes. That's all for now."

He whirled on his heel and resumed his vigilance of the surrounding terrain, checking for potential threats. Of all the things for him to say that was not was I was expecting at all. Hell, maybe I am just getting myself too stressed out. It's time to loosen up and just act natural, nothing's changed since the old days. I'm still the Butcher of Torfan, an N7 Vanguard and tier four biotic that's known all throughout the Terminus. What's a bunch of fucking robots to me?

 **LINE BREAK**

"Guess the universe just slapped us across the face and said why the fuck not?" Laughing loudly at our luck, I leaned out from behind a rock where the five of had stacked up and took in the sight of a massive geth construct on four legs blocking the entrance to the ruins. "You know what would come in real handy right now?" Knowing no one would answer besides Mitch telling me to shut up, I continued. "A tank. A big fucking tank. With a cannon and all that shit. That'd just be swell."

Caleb tapped his chin and I could practically see the cogs whirling in his head. So far he had been two-for-two in ideas to give him some credit which made me feel a little better. Both of them fell very definitely in the, "so crazy it just might work category," to go along with the fact you probably had shit your pants by the end of it but they did come out alright in the end and that's what counts. Plus his little pep talk had got me feeling good so whatever was going down, I was ready.

In addition to the Armature standing outside as if it was a freaking metal guard dog, there were geth with snipers patrolling a multi-level structure off to the left and a fair amount of the regular variety patrolling the area as well. As if our job wasn't going to be fun enough, they just had to liven it up a little bit more. The only good news was that we didn't have to deal with one of those damn Wraith things, I'd be happy if I never had to see one again. There was something about them that was just…off for lack of a better word. The six heads, giant spikes, biotics and creepily glossy midnight-black hue all added up to an extremely unsettling creation.

Now though, I was just growing bored with the waiting as the Shepards plotted together off to the side, Chelsea exuberant with her motions while Caleb's body language was much more muted. "Question for you Mitch old buddy."

"Fire away Wolf."

"Who wins in a fight, Commander Shepard and you or me and Chelsea?"

"What the hell are you talking about Wolf?" He set his sniper rifle between his legs so that it leaned against his shoulder and gave me a look from behind the eyepiece of his visor.

"Simple. Guy boss and you versus lady boss and me. Who wins?"

He thought about it for a moment. "What's the terrain like, we talking urban, jungle, open field? Give me something to work with here."

"Let's just go with urban. You've got Shep on your side so we need some kind of an advantage and in close-quarters we've got the advantage since you can't do your whole," I pantomimed scoping in on a target, "thing."

"You really think you wanna get anywhere in the range of Commander Shepard's biotics?" He laughed silently. "I knew you were crazy Wolf but hell, you saw what he did to that Wraith. If I were you, I'd take my chances dealing with my sniping and you know I wouldn't say something like that lightly. I don't tend to underestimate my own skill with a Mantis."

Tali apparently got curious about what the two of us were talking about because she stooped low behind us and joined our comm channel. "What are you two talking about?"

Mitch answered for me, craning his head back to look at the quarian woman. "Who'd win in a fight, Chelsea and Wolf or me and the commander."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, we're bored. What else are we gonna do besides match up our team to see who'd win in hypothetical fights?" I shook my head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We did it all the time back in our teams days when the travel got too long."

"You humans are odd."

"Nah," Mitch jerked his head towards me, "that's just Wolf."

"You know Tali, it's funny you should say that considering your little-"

Tali's crush on the commander stayed secret for a while longer because the voice of the man himself blared through my headset. "Team form up, we've got a plan."

"Great, I'll even fight this thing solo if we can get moving again."

I could feel the mischievous grin emanating from the older Shepard, even through her helmet. "Always happy to have a volunteer Wolf."

Well. That sounds promising. "Alright, here's the plan. Mitch, you're staying here with me and Chelsea. We're going to be a diversionary force while Tali and Wolf flank around, hitting that structure." Alright, not too bad so far. "Chelsea, give your explosives over to Wolf, you're going to need them to bring down this thing." All of the sudden, as my hands filled with detonation charges, I was rethinking my thoughts on this little plan.

"You two," he pointed to Tali and I, "make your way to the top of that structure. Once you get there, we're going to give everything we've got to this Armature and make sure that it's too occupied with us to even think about firing anywhere else."

"Commander, where exactly do the explosives come into play?" I fastened them to my back as I addressed our leader. "I'm guessing they're for the massive geth blocking our way but there's the small problem of getting them attached to the thing without being vaporized into human dust."

"Well, I'm assuming you can still perform a freefall since you were just complaining about not being able to do that before we dropped down here?"

"Of course, been a little while since I've had to do one but I'm not too worried about it." The real thing that worried me was the fucking robot with a massive cannon on its head but I wasn't going to say that out loud. Wait, he can't possibly be thinking of…

"Good, you're going to fight your way to the top of that multi-level building to our left and then when you see an opening, you're going to jump off, plant the bombs and then charge your way back to cover. Can you handle that?"

The four stared at me for a reaction and I was just silent for a split-second as the tension built. "Caleb…Chelsea…that is the most batshit insane strategy I have ever heard." I held up a finger as they opened their mouths to speak. "And I fucking love it." A short little bark of laughter escaped my throat. "All the brass said **I** was the crazy one back then. This shit is something I only wish I could think up. You ready to kick some geth ass Tali?"

"Sure?" She hesitantly agreed with me.

I gave her a thumbs up. "That's what I like to hear!"

Caleb gave an almost shrug like verbal confirmation after my little rant. Obviously Mitch had drastically undersold how loose I liked to keep it in a fight. "Alright, we advance on three. One, two, three!"

A roar of noise interrupted the stillness as Mitch blasted away with his sniper, causing a geth to fall to the ground as its chest erupted in an electronic display. It didn't take too long after that for him to nail another flashlight with an Overload. Chelsea had been keeping busy too as she tossed a few grenades that resulted in metallic constructs being violently dismantled before joining Mitch with a semi-auto sniper rifle that contrasted his one-shot Mantis nicely. As I watched a bit longer as the two worked in perfect tandem, Chelsea lowering shields only for Mitch to deliver the killing blow to either the head or chest, I mused just how nice it was to work with professionals again. Caleb wasn't going to let them have all the fun either as he launched a biotic vortex that ensnared a half-dozen geth before blowing them sky high with a warp, It's our time now though. "Stick right behind me and keep moving Tali."

The simple thing to do would have been to grab Tali and perform a Charge as I dragged her along behind me but since I wasn't sure how well she would cope, I just stuck with putting up a wall to cover the two of us as she nodded fiercely. "I was planning on it."

Five geth stood in our way as we approached the open complex and I brought my Bio-Cade to bear now, steamrolling all five of them with a satisfying crunch of metal. Tali took advantage of the downed robots, hitting two of the machines with her shotgun and at this close of range, there were pieces of geth in a single shot. Not content with that though, she finished her little spurt of violence by bending down, pulling her knife from her boot and with just a flick of the wrist, nailing a third enemy right in the bulb, causing it to seize up and collapse. Not too shabby.

After letting my wall disappear, I decided to join the fun and finish the last two myself. Since they still were recovering from my improvised battering ram, I simply pulled out my pistol, firing two point-blank shots that caused the light to fizzle from the eye of one before hitting the other with a concentrated throw that launched it out of the building and into a few pieces once it hit the ground a little ways below. "I think you won that round Tali. Knife throw alone would have sealed the deal but taking out two more before I could do anything, I'm impressed."

"Well you just remember that the next time you're about to go back on your promise to keep my opinions on the commander our little secret."

"Noted." I swallowed deeply. "I've gotten up close and personal with a knife before multiple times. I'd rather not do it again if I don't have to. Especially not at the hands of a teenage quarian with a crush, the embarrassment alone would be the worst part."

The increasingly rather frightening woman took off without a word, almost advancing to the next level before I stopped her. "Hey, I'll take point. Absorbing a shit-ton of bullets is **my** specialty."

I took a deep breath before ascending the ramp up to the next level. Before I reached the top, an extremely flexible looking geth jumped from one wall to the other, sticking as if it was a massive, grey tree frog before firing off a shot from a sniper rifle it carried.

Piercing, mind-numbingly intense pain tore through my upper arm as the round ripped through my barriers that had just been depleted from my previous efforts. Before it could fire again, I ensnared it in a lift orb that left it open for Tali to hit with an overload shotgun combination that quickly terminated it.

As it fell to the ground in front of us, I moaned out an interruption "Just give me a sec here."

"Are you okay?" Tali moved in close and now looked at the hole in the shoulder piece on my left arm. "I've got extra medi-gel on my omni-tool if-"

"I'm fine." The numbing agents in my armor were quickly going to work. I won't have much movement but if I can stay doped up on this crap until afterwards, I should still be able to fight with one arm. Thank God it's not my good arm they hit. "You just watch for ambushes while I'm cleaning up here."

Yep, cleaning up was now the right word as the red wolf that was decaled on my chest was starting to get some company of the same color. "I see you guys have stopped moving." The voice of Caleb Shepard blared in my ear. "Everything okay on your end?"

"Got hit in the fucking shoulder." This is one thing I do not miss about the old days.

"Need backup?"

Wincing and muting my mic so I could scream f-bomb's to my heart's content without bombarding the rest of the team, I quickly hit the medi-gel display tab on my omni-tool and sighed in relief as I saw the display signaling that the clotting agents were now going to work. No bleeding out for me today. "Nah, me and Tali have got shit on lock up here. Plus I don't want anyone else stealing from my kill score." I couldn't help but let out another loud curse of pain. Fucking shit that does not feel great. "Just watch out for the fucking jumpy ass robots with sniper rifles. Damn thing popped out of nowhere and hit me before I could even react."

"Got it, thanks for the heads-up." A robot fell towards the ground from the floor above us, meaning Mitch was probably bringing his rifle to bear at the commander's advice which should make things much easier. If he's anywhere near as good as I remember, the lack of heavy cover up top means there's going to be a lot of dead geth very soon.

Looking at the back of my armor, I couldn't see a visible exit wound meaning the bullet was probably still lodged in there somewhere; on a positive note the under armor from Ceberus was doing its job mending itself since I couldn't see straight to the arm itself. Sweet, I've got an extended little trip to the doc's office to look forward to when we get back to the ship. At least it's Chakwas though, for an old lady she's pretty cool. Not too bad looking either although I'd never admit it to anyone alive. And just where the hell is my mind going? Damn medi-gel must be making be a bit loopy.

"You ready Wolf?"

"Yeah." I didn't even bother with a weapon, shotguns were out of the question for now until I'd be able to get this thing looked at and having free rein with my biotics would be much more useful than a single pistol. "Let's go."

Rotating out into the open, I charged across the small gap that separated me from the geth that were just a short distance off. Grabbing the first one by the light on its head with my one fully functional arm, I generated a Palm Crush that warped the metal to the point it was an unrecognizable heap. The other two had begun to fire on me by this point so I bridged the gap once again, pulling Sierra out as I flew across. As I came out of the peculiar tunnel effect that the Vanguard's specialty move created, I slashed outwards, severing the vital cords at the base of the first one's neck before jamming the knife through the other's chest and using my own momentum to push, then crush it underfoot.

"Wow." Tali just stood there, watching the scene. "I'm sorry, I was going to attack but then I saw that you had things more than handled." She looked down at the first geth. "That's…something."

"I call it a Palm Crush." Quickly wiping off the milky white fluid that had come from the multiple punctured geth, I placed the kukri back in the sheath I kept on my left shoulder. "Fires a shit ton of miniature warp pellets as if it was a shotgun shell, but not."

She chuckled at that. "Great explanation Wolf."

"Medi-gel makes me a little weird in the head. Add in being shot and that means I'm gonna be a little short with my explanations." Tali hit a geth with a sabotage mine that caused the thing to short out as electrical currents racked its body before she put the AI out of its misery with several shots from her pistol. "I would love to chat about biotics with you all day…back on the Normandy. Unless you've got some other stuff that you wanna run by me of course."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh I think you know what it means." My tone of voice was now clearly of a teasing variety.

I crouched low behind a large metal structure, we had finally reached the top of the building and it was time for this crazy ass plan to kick off. "Alright team, Tali and I are in position. Bring the pain and I'll make my little divebomb attack onto this big fucker once I see the opening."

"Roger that." This is just going to be absolutely gorgeous.

I began to prep the explosives and set them on the remote detonation option. Timers on massive blasts never really appealed to me that much, I'd rather control the thing myself. "Alright, bombs are prepped and ready to blow this bastard sky high."

As I finished the sentence, the commander stepped up and extended his hand skyward, a bright blue orb forming in his open palm. By now the Armature had taken notice of the brash move and its siege cannon could be seen warming up. "Buy me a second here team."

My quarian battle partner nailed it in the dome with a tech mine that caused the geth tank to stagger back. Seizing the opportunity, Mitch and Chelsea followed that up with an Incinerate and Inferno Grenade, the dual flame-type attacks making the thing rear once again, causing its blast to go just wide of the group of the three below me.

By that time, the commander had finally readied the attack and a massive Flare flew from his hand, the explosion almost forcing the geth to its knees as the ground practically shook from the colossal biotic blow. "Shields are down Wolf, that's your cue!"

"Don't you rush me short guy. I'll do it when I feel good and ready."

Sounds of Mitch grumbling filled my ears as I took a few steps backward before getting a running start. This is fucking insane. Five, four, three, two, one, launch. As my feet left the solid structure, I activated my biotics, lightening my weight and gliding over to the back of the massive robot. Now how the fuck am I gonna stay on this thing's back long enough to fasten the charges?

I was moments away from connecting when my hand brushed against Dax's gift and I had an idea. As fast as was possible while flying with an unusable arm, I pulled the thing out and channeled warp fire that instantly surrounded the turian talon. Once I collided with the thing, I buried the knife up to the hilt in the Armature's neck. Fuck, this would be **so** much easier if my shoulder hadn't just been shot.

The thing must have felt the added weight though as it started to flail its head and my hand began to slip from the hilt. "Little help here Shepard." I managed to grunt out. No response came from the N7 Adept but in an instant, the bucking head of the geth froze, trapped in a stasis field. "'Preciate it." In the short time I'd worked with him, Caleb definitely chose action over words unless absolutely necessary and I could appreciate that.

Grunting with effort, I moved my injured side and flared my biotics to pull the explosives off my lower back. Agonizingly slowly, the charges floated through the air before magnetically attaching to the head of the droid. "We're good, find cover!" I yelled before letting go. However, instead of letting myself hit the ground, I charged across the open expanse, materializing on the other side of the barricades we had originally been hiding behind before crashing into the dirt and practically rolling to a stop which did not help my wound one bit.

"Boom." A tired but victorious smirk crossed my face as from my back, I pushed the detonate option and watched as the fiery orange blast engulfed our enemy's head whole. Okay that was really satisfying, not gonna lie.

Caleb stepped up next to me, giving a subtle nod. "Nice work Wolf."

"Thanks Shep."

The twin sister-brother duo rejoined Tali at the base of the long stairwell that led into the cave. Mitch however, waited there with me as he offered a helping hand. "How's it feel to be back in the field Wolf?"

I rubbed my shoulder through the armor, even though it did absolutely nothing. "Hurts like hell."

 **LINE BREAK**

"Well this place looks…inviting."

Ahead of the five of us was the area that Joker had mentioned was, "off the charts," what charts he was referring to I have no fucking clue but I don't get paid for that, I'm not a pilot. I get credits to shoot killer robots and that's about it. What was waiting ahead of us now though was a long-ass tunnel that set off all kinds of alarm bells. We didn't have cover, an ambush right now would be deadly and most importantly, the thing was creepy as hell.

Oh, speaking of getting paid to shoot killer robots. "Jumpy fuck incoming!"

This time I raised a Bio-Cade and absorbed the blow before Caleb quickly snared the geth in a pull orb that sent it floating back so the three non-biotics of the group could absolutely light it the fuck up with their weapons of choice.

"Well," The older Shepard cheerfully stated, "they know we're here now. Wolf take point with me."

"Roger that bosslady."

She looked appraisingly at my shoulder as we walked. "Keep your pistol on your hip and just hit 'em with the good stuff when I tell you to. I can more than handle all the shooting myself."

"That sounds like a plan to me."

Now that one of the robots had spotted us we were absolutely swarmed. Before my barriers could dip too low, I ran up to a metal barricade, the sound of bullets pinging on the other side. "Lift incoming." I leaned up but fell back to the ground when a bright blue sphere started to make its way towards me. "They've got bio-support."

Caleb quickly cut in. "Isolate the biotic and take him out quick before he can do any damage."

"Roger that." I booked it down the walkways, followed by Chelsea until we were now on the same floor as the AI. Thanks to the three upstairs pinning them down with heavy fire, the two of us set up fairly easily on the remaining robots.

"…commander, I'm pretty sure it was the geth that launched the attack. Looks like it's not just the Wraiths that have biotic capabilities."

"This is the second type we've seen modified to have them." Tali replied to Mitch's hesitant observation. "How are they doing this?"

"Doesn't matter right now." A loud burst of machine gun fire punctuated Chelsea's statement as she peeked out to fire. I saw one geth almost instantly get overwhelmed and practically torn apart by the sheer volume of precision fire that was being leveled. Another was forced into cover as its shields took a beating, meaning that we had slightly more breathing room temporarily. "We've killed plenty of these things already, biotic or not, that means we'll end this thing too then figure out the how's and why's afterwards."

"I'm gonna try and draw it out." I put all my reserves into my personal defenses. "Make sure you guys take it out."

Popping out once again, I ran to my left as enemy rifle fire pelted the area all around me. "Reave incoming."

Out of the corner of my eye, I just barely saw a purple field engulf the area around the modified geth. As its barrier disappeared, Mitch and Tali hit it with dual overloads followed by Chelsea finishing it with a couple sniper blasts from her N7 Valiant.

Caleb quickly eliminated the remaining two geth with a couple effortless flicks of the wrist that trapped them in a Singularity before detonating it with a Warp before the fireteam rejoined me as we walked over to view the new enemy. I crouched down and looked closely, it resembled the other ones in the fact that it was silver and bipedal. The main difference however, could be seen on its back where a massive eezo core was exposed for the world to see. Transparent wires with the element's strange purple glow could be seen flowing from the back and up to the hands of the robot, explaining how exactly it managed to generate a lift despite the fact it wasn't an organic creature.

"Hey Tali." I shouldered the quarian. "You guys never really did…anything like this right? This is something new?"

"That's correct." She was staring practically in shock at the downed creation of her people. "Everything besides the basic geth foot soldiers we've fought is something they've created themselves in their three hundred years of hiding." The purple-suited woman nudged the thing with her two-toed foot. "I hope we see more of these, if I could bring data back to the fleet on some of these new creations…"

She trailed off, clasping her hands in imagination. "For a pilgrimage gift I'm assuming?"

"It would be amazing."

I don't think she even heard me…

"Let's go team." Caleb waved for us to join him. "There's something up ahead."

We made our way across the metal walkways before coming to a lift. As Chelsea activated it, I took a look at the glowing blue fields to our right. "The fuck are those things?"

Mitch stepped up next to me, propping his elbows up on the side of the slowly lowering lift. "They almost look like prison cells."

"I don't like this place." Everything was muted and sterile-looking. The protheans must have been a fun group to hang with. "Let's find this damn girl and get the fuck out of here." The pain from my shoulder was starting to get to me, medi-gel helps make it manageable but that doesn't mean my shoulder doesn't feel like it's got a little campfire of its own going.

"I'm with you Wolfy."

"Please don't make that a thing Chelsea." The elevator stopped moving and a single geth blocked the way. With a loud sigh, I crossed the gap and using the momentum of my own biotic charge I slammed the droid into the ground before blowing its head off with a Palm Crush. "Can we keep moving now?"

The five of us piled into another damn elevator. "Alright, what was the fucking point of having a different elevator literally fifty feet away from another one? Why the hell wouldn't the stupid bastards just make one damn thing that goes all the way down? Bunch of fuck-ups, it's no wonder the Reapers wiped those stupid shits out."

Three of the four looked at me in curiosity, obviously not used to my outbursts over trivial things. "He does this a lot." The Infiltrator explained with a shrug. "You learn to ignore it."

"First of all, fuck you Mitch. Secondly, it's a perfectly valid criticism, I'm just saying what's the point of this and why the hell did the citadel have to keep the same elevator design?"

All the sudden, the sound of screeching metal filled the air and in an instant, I charged out of the deathtrap and onto the pathway, screaming obscenities loudly. As I reached the ground and rolled out of the biotic technique, just a few feet above me and behind, the elevator was stopped in mid-air. "Looks like this is where we get out." Caleb hopped a few feet down to the metal path, walking past me. "Move out team."

Everyone else moved past me, Mitch laughing as he did so before Chelsea patted me on the head. "Good one Wolf, way to play that totally cool."

I just pursed my lips, not really having a good retort. "Yeah, can we just put that behind us and forget it ever happened?"

"Nope."

She walked off and I still stood there, frozen in place. "Fuck."

The jagged path made its way downward before curving back around. We had just resumed our formation when a female voice cut through the sounds of stomping combat boots. "Hello, is somebody there?" We ran up to one of the shields where a beautiful young asari was suspended in mid-air. "I need help, sorry but I seem to be um, trapped."

I jostled Mitch's shoulder roughly as he stood upright, enraptured by the sight of the alien woman. "Soooo…love at first sight?"

"Oh screw you Wolf."

He pushed me back and the asari gave us a curious look while the commander leveled a more intimidating one before turning to the captive. "Are you Miss Liara T'Soni?"

"Thank the Goddess you've come!" She couldn't even answer the question, kinda makes me wonder how long she's been stuck like this. "I mean, yes I am. If you could please find a way to release me first however, I would appreciate it very much."

"Your mother, Matriarch Benezia, is working with Saren." Chelsea stepped up and took over the conversation. "Before we do anything, we need to know if you're on his side or not."

"Side?" Her face morphed into a perplexed state. "I am not on anyone's side. And when it comes to my mother, I have not seen her in almost ten years, even if I am her daughter." In a moment, her voice became pleading. "Could you please just let me out of this first? I will gladly answer any questions you might have then."

My curiosity was too much for me at this point. "How the hell did you end up like," I pointed to her rather uncomfortably stretched out position, "that."

"I was just peacefully exploring the ruins when my research team was attacked by geth." Her eyes went wide. "We were completely taken by surprise, after all the geth haven't been seen in three hundred years. I fled in here and activated the stasis hoping it would keep me safe, but now I'm stuck like this without the ability to free myself. Please, can you help me?"

"Don't worry Miss T'Soni, we'll have you freed in no time once we finish clearing the geth out of here." Caleb stepped forward and nodded firmly.

"Thank you." Liara smiled back at him warmly. "If you can find a way into the cell, there is a control panel here that will free me. Of course, getting here is the difficult part, I would search the area below for some passageway through if I were you."

"We'll check it out."

She offered a final bit of advice as we began to retreat. "Be careful! They have a krogan with them and he's been trying to find a way in here, if you have to fight him I would take extreme caution."

"Thanks for the advice miss."

Caleb gave a small incline of the head and prepared to leave but before we could do anything, the imprisoned asari yelled out. "Duck!"

The whine of a rocket screaming alerted the five of us as to the reason for her loud scream and as one, we dropped to the ground. Instantly, the commander took over the situation. "Chelsea, get some fire on that bastard now! Wolf, you're with me." As we vaulted over the metal walkway, both of us activating our biotics to slow the fall, he gave direction to the final two members of the squad. "Tali, stick by Mitch and hit them with some tech. Mitch, you know what to do."

"Roger that."

As both of us advanced on the robot horde, we began to take heavy fire along with a few biotic attacks for good measure. "How's a Bio-Cade sound right now Shepard?"

He grunted, ensnaring a rocket trooper that had leaned out to try and fire on the team for a split-second too long in a lift. The free-floating geth was quickly beheaded by a pinpoint shot from Mitch. "Do it." He quickly explained the situation to everyone else. "Team hold fire unless you see an opening, Wolf's going to wall things up."

"Sure thing bro."

Just like that, the attacks coming from behind us, courtesy of the team, ceased. Looks like that's my signal. "Shield up." I stepped out into the hail of gunfire, absorbing everything that was coming my way. "Ramming speed!"

The thing I'd quickly learned in fighting the geth is they're based entirely on logic which means unorthodox strategies seemed to flummox the robotic creatures and give that crucial bit of extra time. Luckily for me, unorthodox strategies are something I excel at.

First, I collided with the bio-geth, then a machine wielding a missile launcher was the next to be smashed and I finished that with a regular one, just for good measure. In the background, I heard Caleb wreaking havoc on the other two, leaving just one for me. Instead of attacking the thing, I simply stomped down with my heel, crushing the optic center in a swift yet brutal motion.

"Good work Wolfert." I got a nod of approval from the man and beamed inwardly, looks like I'm getting back in his good graces a bit. "You'll have to teach me that little trick sometime." And now he's asking me to teach him something…this day can't get any better. Well, beside

The rest of the team quickly joined us at the commander's signal. "Okay," Tali looked over at the smashed robot, "I'm obviously not the biggest fan of the geth but keelah Wolf, that's the second time. You do realize you have biotics and guns right?"

"Yeah." I just shrugged as Mitch explained in my stead. "He's kind of unnecessarily violent like that."

"I noticed."

The five of us stepped up to a large device that frankly, I had no clue what it was for. Apparently the Shepards did somehow though. "This big fucker looks like an old mining laser. I'm thinking we can get this up and running, use it to cut through to the other side and get to the chick."

"While I'm sure that Tali can get it up and running so we can use it," Caleb looked over the device, "that sounds a bit unpredictable."

"For what it's worth, I agree with the commander. While I'm usually all about running headfirst into stupid situations." I winced as I thought about the destructive potential of the giant mechanism doing its thing. "We should try and find an alternate way in."

Chelsea shrugged while the other two gave nods of assent. "Fine, be boring then. You both are so lame."

Without a word, Caleb started walking back towards the ramp we'd walked down after meeting the researcher. "So…does he do this often Chelsea?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The blonde woman shook her head at her younger twin's apparent wordless decision. "On the plus side, it usually means he just got hit with an idea and plans to execute it."

"We should probably follow him." Mitch started the walk back and like sheep we followed him.

As we rejoined our leader, without a word he whirled on me. "Wolf, how long can you keep up a warp for?"

"I haven't exactly had the occasion to see how long I can last yet." Chelsea chortled and a small smirk came from my bastard of a best friend. Instead of retorting to the two, I simply offered up a middle finger that the commander thankfully missed with how engrossed he was in the current situation. "Since I'm a Vanguard my skills are geared towards quick, powerful attacks, not necessarily duration."

"Understood." Again, without explaining anything he generated a massive warp and started cutting into the wall. "Here's the plan then, I hit it with a Warp to soften it, you smash it with a Palm Crush to loosen it up, I use a Throw to smash the weakened debris and then you hit it with another attack."

"So lemme get this straight, we're going to alternate attacks and it's basically, Warp, Crush, Throw, Crush, rinse and repeat." Sighing loudly at his nod, I stepped up next to the man and jammed my hand forward toward the rock face, unleashing a point-blank blast. "I don't remember excavation work being on the contract I signed."

"Your contract explicitly states that you'll follow any and all orders I give you, unless they're deemed by multiple parties to be unreasonable." He hurled a massive orb that practically shook the wall before looking at me for emphasis with the ghost of a grin.

"Suddenly it's not so unreasonable."

"Knew you'd come around to seeing my side of things Wolf."

After a couple minutes we had already made a person-sized hole in the cave that was probably a few feet deep, just another fifteen minutes or so of this and we might be through. "You do know it was a joke sir, you really gotta learn to cut loose when you see the chance." I whipped my head around so I was looking the man in the face. "If you wind yourself up too tight you're just gonna end up snapping, I know from experience."

Suddenly, Chelsea appeared over our shoulders, laughing almost overly loudly after my rather negative observation. "Hey boys, how's it going?" She shook her head disapprovingly. "You two look a little tired, really need to keep yourself hydrated."

"Thanks Chelsea, you sure know how to make a guy feel better." I pulled my mask off and tucked it into a loop on my armor designed for that purpose before wiping off the sweat pooling on my forehead. "You know what **would** be nice to have with us right now? A krogan. It's not like they're practically walking tanks with superhuman strength or anything. And could you imagine if we had one that even had biotics?" I sighed at the prospect. "Fuck but that would be so great, he probably would have rescued the doc and had us on the ship by now."

"Hey Wolf." The commander grunted as he hurled a massive attack into the stone face of the wall.

"'Sup?"

"Shut up."

"Roger that commander!" With fake enthusiasm, I turned back towards the goal and began chipping away again.

"First Lieutenant Woley." The determined grey eyes of Caleb Shepard flashed to our sniper. "Inform Miss T'Soni what our plan is. Chelsea, take Tali and watch for geth ambushes." He turned back as it was his turn to strike again. "Nathan and I will be occupied here for the foreseeable future."

"Commander I-" Mitch appeared hesitant for some reason.

"What's wrong short guy?" I arched my back and craned my neck so he could see the shit eating grin on my face. "Silver tongue turned to lead?"

"Fuck you Wolf." With that he stomped away determinedly and I just chuckled as I turned back to my new nemesis.

Looks like it's gonna be fun times ahead for me. Wolf the motherfucking biotic miner. It's got a certain ring to it doesn't it?

 **A/N: So by the time you guys are reading this I am going to be on my way to a weeklong vacation in Minnesota. For anyone not in the U.S. it's one of our northernmost states and is known as the, "Land of 10,000 Lakes," so that is where I will be spending almost all of my time for the next seven days. Just chilling the hell out with my pops and little bro doing nothing but fishing, eating and sleeping. I've pretty much had this circled on my calendar forever so I cannot wait to get away from work for a while and recharge. It shouldn't disrupt the biweekly update plan as I've actually got the rough draft of the next chapter done and I'm just gonna have to touch it up once I get back.**

 **Thanks once again to my Beta Ranger Station Charlie who did a phenomenal job touching up this chapter for me.**

 **Reviews:**

 **RSC: Yeah it was pretty fun writing an altogether different type of obstacle so I'll definitely have at least a couple more of those popping up.**

 **Dickson: That's definitely the first impression he gives off, I'll just say though that there is more to both of them than their public face and that's going to be delved into as the story goes on here in Mass Effect 1's timeline.**


	8. It Takes Two

"Hey boys?" I paused my biotic excavation work and Shepard did the same at hearing his older twin's voice. "I hate to interrupt your male bonding, but you should probably get over here for this."

I wiped the sweat from my brow and quickly downed a nutrient bar before pulling my Recon Hood back on. It didn't seem entirely urgent, since Chelsea wasn't currently ripping robots apart with machine gun fire. Still, I'm not gonna complain about taking a nice little break from being the world's first human biotic excavator. Hell I'll even take a firefight over what I'm currently doing although that's not really saying too much considering my fondness for getting into scraps, I blame Detroit.

Indignant protesting from the resident prothean expert alerted me as to what exactly was happening. "Well I still refuse to tell you which one is the release, you can threaten me however you like and that will not change."

"Listen child." I finally rounded the corner and saw a hulking krogan surrounded by geth just on the other side of the screen. "There's only a few buttons on this thing so I'm going to figure it out, make this easy on yourself. You're going to be brought to Saren no matter what you do so don't fight it." The massive living dinosaur in armor that looked like it weighed a literal ton turned towards the five of us behind the transparent blue wall and gave a toothy smirk. "Looks like you all were a bit too late."

Surprisingly, it was the male Shepard twin who looked like he was about to flip his shit. "We are taking Miss T'Soni into our custody, touch her and I will rip you apart molecule by molecule." Shit, maybe he's not quite as placid as the public face he puts on all the time.

The krogan just laughed loudly. "I don't know who you think you are human, but you're welcome to try and take her if you can catch up with me. You'll fail but it might make this whole job worthwhile at least." As he continued to push buttons on the display, he finally found the release, giving a little grunt of satisfaction as the stasis field disappeared. The researcher fell to the floor on one knee and struggling vainly, she tried to hurl a Warp at the krogan but the attack just dissipated on his armor. Obviously she was worn to the point of mental and physical exhaustion, otherwise I'm sure she would have put up more of a fight considering her lineage.

With that little scene being over, the leader of the geth picked up the woman and threw her over his shoulder effortlessly. We stood there for a second and watched as the enemy force retreated to the elevator, at least until the commander growled out an order. "Wolf! You're with me, we're taking them down."

"Commander?" I couldn't help but voice my confusion, we hadn't broken through the wall yet so I'm not quite sure what he was planning.

"Chelsea, bunker down here with the rest of the team and make sure no one comes behind us."

"Roger that bro." Obviously she knew what he was thinking so it must just be some kind of twin thing. "We'll set up shop here, just make sure that you come back to pick us up alright?"

He cracked a smile at that. "Will do." His head twitched towards the hole we had made in the wall then without warning, he stepped sideways and disappeared completely, only to reappear on the other side of the wall. "You coming or what?" I guess with the wall so close to being breached and taking into account the current situation, Shepard just decided that phasing through was the quickest solution, which was perfectly fine by me.

"You know," I coiled myself before springing through the wall myself in a biotic blur, "I like the way you think Shepard. I might still be rusty when it comes to full-scale team cohesion but this…this I can most certainly handle."

"You sure?" By now we were sprinting down the hallway toward the elevator that had unfortunately retreated up to the surface much too fast for us to catch up to it. "It's just the two of us against a krogan with unknown capabilities and at least a half-dozen geth, there'll probably more once we reach the surface too."

I shrugged as we approached the base of the lift. "Four to one is much better odds than I've had in a long-ass time. I know you're the Lion of Elysium and all that but don't forget, I'm still the Butcher of Torfan and an N7 Vanguard once upon a time. You just make sure you can keep up with me, I would hate to damage your sensitive ego. I can handle my business."

An eager smirk that I expected more from Chelsea than him appeared on his face. "That's what I like to hear." The large round platform had now descended back to a level we could reach it and rushing over to the large stand in the middle, the Adept pushed the button so we could give chase to T'Soni's captors. "I'm anticipating an ambush here so be ready."

The adrenaline was starting to flow through me again now and holding a pistol in my left hand, kukri in a reverse-grip in my right, I crouched low. Sure enough, as we reached the top, two biotic geth were waiting there for us.

"They're mine!" Simultaneously, they hurled Warps that I absorbed easily with my Bio-Cade before dashing over to the group of two. As the first brought an AR to bear, I knocked it skyward with my kukri before pivoting backwards into to the other and planting the knife in its bulbed head. Before the rifle-wielding one could renew its attack, I spun back forward, leaving the knife where it was and smashed my boot into the side of its knee joint which caused it to buckle thanks to the weight of the armor I was in. From its low position, all it took to clear the room of immediate enemies was simply pulling up my pistol and unleashing four point blank shots that sent it to the ground in a fit of electronic seizures.

"Nice and efficient work, let's keep moving." Giving a little nod, I reached down and yanked the midnight black blade out of the robot's head. Just a few seconds later, another couple geth rushed towards us. "This time, they're **mine**."

In a flurry of biotic attacks, he trapped the first in a Pull before turning to the other and hitting it repeatedly in the chest with the beam-like attacks I had seen him use on the Wraith. It only took about two seconds for a hole to be blown clean through the geth trooper's chest and almost lazily, he raised a hand towards the still floating one before bringing it hurtling back to the ground with a downward flick that sent metal parts everywhere.

"Mine were biotic geth so when you take into account the scale of difficulty…" I paused as if I was running numbers in my head. "I still come out as the winner in that round."

"You tell yourself whatever you need to Wolf." It was all I could do to keep up with the man who by now was seemingly fully entranced by the heat of battle. Every once in a while I even I had to lower my mass as I sprinted just to make sure that I wasn't falling too far behind. "They're right ahead of us now."

It was true. The krogan and about eight or so geth were now loading the asari rather roughly into the back of a small shuttle. He was just about to step in when I yelled loudly over the boom of the engines. "You asked for us ya fucking whelp!" I spread my arms wide and to my own surprise Shep was content with letting me handle the situation despite knowing what he knew about my penchant for hotheadedness. Maybe he's a bit less of an uptight dude than I thought. "You bring your tin cans and let's settle this fucking thing right here, right now. Winner gets to keep the asari."

He gave a little signal to the pilot to wait but it only took a second after that for an asari dressed in what I recognized as commando leathers to step out of the ship making this now ten on two. I honestly didn't give a shit about the numbers but having what I'm guessing was one of Benezia's stooges added to the mix just made things a little bit more interesting.

The asari looked over to the krogan who was now chuckling. "Thought I told you to wait in the ship, I could have handled this myself you know."

"As if you could keep me out of this fight." Now that she was standing right next to the other alien, I realized she was frighteningly tall and muscular for one of her species. "My dad was one of your kind and I got a bit more of his genes than usual I guess."

Seemingly taking advantage of the little lull, Shepard whispered over the comms. "I'll kill the krogan. Wipe out as many geth as you can in a quick burst, then when I give the signal we double-team the asari-"

I coughed loudly. "Party killer."

"Then when we end her, whatever stragglers are still alive we take out."

"Sounds good."

The reptilian looking alien yelled loudly over with his own challenge. "You two done talking or are we ever going to get started?"

"Started? I already told you what would happen if you laid a hand on T'soni." Shepard calmly said back as he slammed a massive Warp into the leader of the opposition. Instead of dissipating like usual however, it stayed around the alien's head and a thin, almost rope-like line moved back to the commander's hand. As the krogan screamed in pain, he gave a final little line. "You should have shot at us instead of talking again."

The steely-grey eyed blonde made a motion with his hand as if he was ripping the air in front of him apart and in a grotesque display of yellow-orange blood, the krogan's head practically caved in on itself as it showered the asari next to him in gore. As long as it took to put into words, the whole thing happened in the blink of an eye so when I slammed into the clustered group of geth with a Lift-Warp combo that sent a handful flying, they had almost no time to react.

Well that little opening salvo certainly evened the odds a little bit. I have no clue what the fuck Shep just did to that poor son of a bitch but I'm not gonna complain when you can kill a krogan like that. I'd imagine the only drawback is the prep time and that it doesn't exactly work on large masses of enemies but for a single target caught unaware like that, well, I saw the results.

With a hearty shake, the asari snapped herself out of the shocked state she was in and hurled an attack at the commander that I saw him absorb by surrounding himself in a biotic aura that massed around his feet, weighing him down. I didn't have time to see much else as I was now in the thick of the last four geth. It sounds like a suicidal technique but the thing about getting into the middle of four people, robots or not, is that they have to worry about friendly-fire while you do not.

The first one I took down with a combination of an Overload, thank you Tali by the way, followed by two shotgun blasts to the chest that sent it down. I ducked a robotic arm and strengthened my barrier to absorb a burst from a rifle before rolling forward to slash at the knee joints of another geth, sending it crashing forward to the ground.

"Wolf. Do it." Instantly, I dropped what I was doing and sprang through the two remaining geth where I saw the commander locked in biotic hand-to-hand with Benezia's agent. The two were actually fairly well matched and it was apparently taking all the concentration of both of them to keep up the frenetic pace which meant that taking out the asari would be a pretty simple matter. Making a split-second decision, I extended an omni-taser Daxy had developed for me once I became a bounty hunter and slammed it into the enemy's unprotected neck. As electricity arced through the woman's body, she spasmed violently before falling unceremoniously to the ground in a dazed heap.

With the two most dangerous combatants now out of the way, Shepard flash-stepped forward into the remaining geth, hitting each one with a heavily centralized Warp in a matter of a second or two. After that all I had to do was spring forward and the lingering effects of the attack detonated, sending the two geth flying backwards into the shuttle meant to steal T'Soni which was now rocking slightly from the force of the two machines flying into it.

As we stepped over towards the shuttle, the geth that I had hamstrung earlier in the fight crawled towards us, still holding onto the fight. With barely a look, we both plugged it with multiple pistol shots that ended the last enemy combatant's ability to keep up the fight.

"That was a hell of a fight Shep." I looked over at the krogan whose pulpy head was grossing me out more than I cared to admit. "Need a shake?"

The commander, who had now folded away his helmet and sported a look of exhaustion, although there were still undertones of that vicious grin I saw earlier, nodded thankfully. "That'd be great Wolf. I didn't realize I'd have to go all-out like that otherwise I would have packed extras. Using that technique takes it out of me."

"Yeah," I just gave a little awkward chuckle, "I'd imagine it does. Just when I thought I'd seen it all when it comes to biotics too. Note to self, never get on Caleb's bad side, don't want to end up losing my head." He groaned a little at my joke. "What do you call it by the way?"

"No. You're not giving it a name so don't even think about it."

I didn't let the fact that he instantly knew where I was going get me down. Or stop me for that matter. "How about…'Terror?' Just think about the reporters talking about it, 'Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard sized up the hulking krogan before delivering his own unique brand of biotic terror to the massive mercenary.'"

He downed the chalky mixture of fluids in one long gulp, choosing to completely ignore my little tangent, as I resorted to sipping my own drink in return. "It's good for taking out single, highly dangerous targets but it takes a bit of prep time and I need to recharge after. That commando almost got the jump on me a couple times because of it." He pointed his index finger at me. "Good thinking taking her alive by the way. Having an agent of Saren in our possession could be invaluable."

"Thanks Shepard. Your timing made the job easy enough so I figured there wasn't much risk since she never even saw it coming." He stepped over to the shuttle and grabbed the asari who hadn't just been trying to kill us, tossing her unconscious form across his back. Guess they must have given her some kind of sedative to knock her out so she wouldn't cause a ruckus on the shuttle, we probably should get her to Chakwas ASAP to make sure there aren't any complications. "We worked pretty well together I'd say."

He let a little smile grow at the corner of his mouth. "I'd say so too. Although I guess we'd probably better go back there and help the others out of that pit now."

"Yeah, they're probably not too happy. Especially Chelsea."

Shepard full-on laughed at that one. "Definitely not. She's going to be royally pissed that she missed out on this one. I'll never hear the end of it."

"You mean **we'll** never hear the end of it."

He gave a little shrug while I hoisted the other incapacitated asari before we worked our way back to the large circular elevator, taking it back down into the prothean ruin itself. "That's true enough."

Once we reached the bottom, we were greeted by a loud jeer. "You idiots forgot to switch back to the team channel!" Chelsea berated us as we stepped towards the blue screen that separated us." She looked at the mixture of geth fluid and sprinkling of asari and krogan blood that covered our armors and yelled again. "And you got in a fight without me too! You are the worst brother in the galaxy you know that?"

As he tried to deflect the barbs by going back to work on the other side of the tunnel we had started, the female Shepard turned her attention to me. "You fucking owe me big time Wolf." She pointed a menacing finger at me and I was very glad to be separated by a seemingly impenetrable device. "I had to sit here with my thumb up my ass while you and Caleb got all the action."

"Yeah yeah, I'll make it up to you Chelsea. It's not like we're probably going to be in another fight a few days from now or anything like that."

Deciding that my best course of action was now to rejoin the less accusatory Shepard, I dropped our newfound prisoner and went back to tunneling.

It only took a few minutes for us to finally break through now and it was about at that moment, I realized my arm had started stinging like all hell again. Guess in all the excitement I forgot about not using the damn thing. "Fucking shit. Hey Mitch!" The sniper whirled on me before starting to jog over as I waved to him. "I could use a little help buddy. Pay me back for saving your ass on Omega."

"Please, I've already repaid you for that whole incident three times over." He helped me unclasp the chest plate and lowered it to the ground. Now that my upper body was free from the confining armor and I was in my undersuit, I took a deep breath. "Wolf, what are you even wearing? I've never seen anything like this."

"Little something Dax whipped up." A lie sprang into my head quickly since saying I got it from a terrorist organization as part of a contract wouldn't exactly fly. "Bunch of experimental tech he got his hands on thanks to our weapons dealer status and he whipped a little something up for me from the leftovers. Suit basically functions as an extra layer of muscle." He looked at my clearly injured arm, however due to the unique functions of that particular part of my equipment, the hole was already gone. "Yeah, it's also self-repairing, kinda forgot to mention that and **don't** ask me how it works because I have no fucking idea either."

By this time, my unusual fashion choice had drawn a crowd as the elder Shepard now joined us, feeling my arm excitedly. "This is so cool!" Pulling on my thankfully non-injured limb, she tested out the feeling of the skin-tight gear. "Where'd you get this from?"

"Daxyrus Lenril." Mitch was now helping peel me gingerly out of the thing so I was now only in tight-fitting Alliance PT gear up top. "Turian Cabal I…ran into back on Earth." At seeing her curiosity, I hastily continued. "Long story. I'll tell you another time when I don't have a piece of metal currently lodged in my body."

"Well who knows when that'll be?" She teased with a friendly grin before sitting down next to the two of us, resting her arms over her knees. "I have a feeling you wind up wounded a lot."

My emergency doctor barked out a clipped laugh. "If only you knew Chels."

"That's sort of what naturally happens when you've fought on the front lines basically since the time you turned nineteen." I looked over to the both of them who had also been fighting for just as long as me and when they shook their heads I just sighed. "Fine. How about you just seal prep this shit so I can avoid getting my ass reamed by the doc when I get back onboard?"

We paused for a moment as Caleb raised the Normandy on the comm channel. "Just let Joker know to open up the dock bay when he sees a shuttle incoming." There was a slight pause as he waited for a response. "Affirmative. Saren hired a bounty hunter to procure Benezia's daughter and he apparently had sent an agent in a shuttle to make the pickup. She no longer has need of it so I figure we can use a shuttle for some small-scale engagements in places where the Normandy can't get into." Another little stop from the man. "It'll be a bit of extra work for the engineers making sure it's fit at least to Alliance regs but Vakarian can help them out on that too. We'll be on our way up shortly so keep an eye open, Shepard out."

With the pickup arranged, Woley turned back to me with a smirk. "I guess I can do that little favor for you. You're welcome by the way." As he started to reapply medi-gel and perform some basic fieldwork, I winced and gave a sharp intake as his fingers probed the wound. "Oh stop whining you big pansy. I've seen you get hit by much worse."

"You know you really need to work on your bedside manner." I mumbled to myself.

 **LINE BREAK**

"Hey commanders, in the future could we choose planets that aren't so lava filled?" Joker cut in with I had quickly learned was his trademark snark, no matter who he was addressing. The ten of us were gathered in the communications room, which also happened to serve as a meeting room in times like these. While eight of us were seated, four to a side, the twin commanders instead opted to stand at the head closest to the control panel. "You know, maybe a nice tropical resort for our next one? Think we could convince Saren to attack there next?"

Liara, who was seated next to me and had shaken off the sedatives although she was still seemingly exhausted from the looks of things, appeared confused. "I am afraid I fail to see the humor in the situation."

I leaned over and almost instantly she tensed. During the team introductions after she had woken up, it was made very clear that she had heard of the, "Butcher," somewhere in her travels before and wasn't too keen on me so I guess it was grudgingly understandable. The only thing that I think stood in my favor was the little fact that I had just rescued her with Shepard, so at least I had something going for me when it came to getting along with our newest team member. "It's a human coping mechanism. In stressful situations we tend to make stupid jokes to pretend we're not bothered by things." Flashing a self-deprecating grin at the asari maiden, I continued. "To be fair, I'm also one of the worst at it so if we're working together you'll probably have to deal with a lot of it."

"Ah, I see. My time spent with your species has been very minimal so you must forgive my ignorance in this matter." She turned to the Shep twins, moving in her seat to make herself more comfortable. "I am immensely grateful to the both of you for saving me. If your team hadn't arrived when it had, they most certainly would have escaped with me in their custody and taken me to Saren."

"Do you have any idea why he's so intent on hunting you down?" My excitable former pupil cut in. "And can you tell us anything about this conduit thing?"

She gave a polite little smile. "Unfortunately, my knowledge of the Conduit is rather minimal Corporal Jenkins. However, my research would lead me to believe that it was heavily tied to the extinction-level event that wiped out the prothean race." She started to get animated despite her obvious and perfectly justifiable fatigue. It was actually kind of cute in a dorky way to see a young asari that excited over something like this. "About fifty years of my life has been spent researching their species and just when I was on the verge of a major breakthrough, the geth attack. Hopefully the ruins weren't too damaged from all the fighting…"

She shook her head to get rid of the demoralized ending to her sentence. "Since I'm only one-hundred six, my research has been summarily discredited by all well-regarded members of my field. That might seem to a long time to some of you here," she nodded towards my fellow humans, "but in my people's view I'm still a mere child and because of that, my knowledge of the protheans is not taken seriously."

Chelsea chuckled a bit. "Li'l bro here might be able to help you out with that whole, 'wiping out an entire species,' angle you're studying."

"No offense meant commander but I find that highly improbable." A light smile crossed her features, probably at the concept of somebody like the commanders having some keen insight into the field she'd been slaving over for a decent portion of our lifespan. "The strange thing is, when they were destroyed, whoever did it left almost no trace of what was once a galaxy-spanning empire. It was almost as if once they were gone, their conquerors intentionally cleaned up any hint of their demise."

At her being able to freely talk about something that was obviously very important to her, the asari once again got all giddy. "What's remarkable is if I'm right, they aren't the first power to fall in such a way. A cycle seems to repeat itself over and over in our galactic history, species rise to power and dominate only to fall prey to this mysterious oppressive force."

Visions brought from the prolonged charge surfaced in the back of my eyes and rubbing vigorously at my temples, I leaned back into my chair. "You're telling me that there's some super powerful unknown race that comes back whenever a species gets a little too big for itself and obliterates the shit out of 'em, leaving no trace whatsoever?"

Liara nodded at me. "That is correct. The technology that we see around us, like the Citadel and relays for example, is not actually of prothean design. They fully utilized the assets that were already in place in their rise to supremacy but even they could not withstand the shadowy force that enacted the culling of previous races. Ever since I can remember, this particular study has fascinated me and I have dedicated my life to finding out just what happened to the prothean race."

"Reapers happened." Chelsea blurted out casually. "Giant, squid-like ships that also happen to be sentient killing machines."

"Wait, wait, wait. Gimme one fucking second." Suddenly, my biotic, "vision," that I received back on Earth during my chase of Blade started making more sense. "Squid-like ships? As in tentacles, creepy-ass eyes and all that jazz shooting red beams of destruction?"

"That's right." The male Shepard looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Ho-ly shit. I've seen them. I've seen the Reapers." Muttering to myself under my breath, I kept chattering as if I was in a trance. "Back on Earth, I held a Charge for **way** too long and I, I started to see some weird shit. The last thing that flashed before me was a man in armor onboard a space station, I guess it was the Citadel now that I think back and those, 'Reapers,' or whatever you called 'em were everywhere in the background."

Everyone stared at me but I didn't exactly care at the moment, I was too shell-shocked that one of the puzzle pieces of that nightmare I experienced had just fallen into place when I least expected it. I saw something from the past when Emma's dying form flashed in my eyes, I witnessed what was the present back then as me and Daxy stormed one of the Tenth Street Reds' facilities… could that have been a possible future of those things invading?

"What did he look like?" Caleb spoke up

"Dunno commander." My head wobbled to indicate a negative. "From what I saw, the man's face was obscured because of some otherworldly flash of light. Looked painful as shit though, wouldn't wanna be in his shoes."

The room grew quiet at my strange admission. After that I was really only half-listening to the conversation from that point on as Caleb tried to get things back on track. He talked more in-depth about the experience with the Beacon, Liara mentioned something about that explaining why the geth would attack because of the sheer value of the information obtainable from them. Blue lady says something about jumbled visions, pays Sheps a compliment. Ashley fires back saying this isn't getting us anywhere. Liara then apologizes for the fiftieth time since we've met, this time because she doesn't know where the Conduit or Saren are. Caleb offers her spot on team, she accepts gladly before almost passing out which caused me to snap back to attention as my name was brought up.

"Wanna share what your daydreaming about with the rest of the class Wolf?" Chelsea shook me out of my stupor with a little wink.

Coloring slightly, I spoke quickly to cover my tracks. "Sorry, still just thinking about this whole thing." I apologized to the fiery woman. "Still weirds me out about what I saw."

"It's understandable." Caleb gave an excuse for me which I was thankful for. "What I was saying was, could you show Liara the doctor's quarters? She needs an examination and you need to get your arm looked at yourself I'm pretty sure."

"Oh yeah." With the strong stream of painkillers that had been pumped into my bloodstream on a steady basis since our escape from the planet, I had almost forgotten about the whole thing. Fucking Reaper visions getting in my way again. "I'll do that right away bossman."

"Good." He snapped to attention. "The rest of you are dismissed, Chelsea and I need to discuss our plans for the prisoner with the Council."

I walked into the elevator with Liara, still deathly silent. "Are you, are you alright Mr. Wolfert?" Hesitantly, she peeked her head out so we could make eye contact. "You don't seem well."

"This whole thing's just got me shaken up I guess." An apologetic smile creased my lips as I tried to make conversation with the young, for an asari at least, woman. "Giant space monsters that transcend time isn't my area of expertise, shooting and fighting is more my style."

"If it is not too much trouble, do you think you could tell me more about what happened?" It seemed like her curiosity about the subject was currently overriding her fear of my reputation. "If it is not too forward of me for asking of course, again my understanding of human customs is woefully inadequate."

"Don't even worry about it." Waving her off, I summed up the tale. "Well, I was chasing down a target back on Earth." I winced at the bad memories that went along with my short time back in Detroit after my temporary retirement. "He was getting away in a ship and to chase him down I held a biotic charge for much too long, something my instructor told me never to do. At the end of it, I started to see shit. People who shouldn't be alive talked to me, I saw scenes from my past, the creepy spider-things that walk all around the Citadel and finally, the Reapers or whatever they're called."

The doors finally opened up in front of us and she answered my hasty explanation as we made our way to see Chakwas. Ugh, I need to apologize to her I think. I hate being in the wrong. "It sounds like you have actually experienced something our people are familiar with, just in a different fashion." Once again, what I was quickly learning was her, "researcher," state took over. "Matriarchs who have much experience in the field of biotics meditate for hours upon end just to get a short glimpse of what you've seen. Your species would consider them, 'prophets,' or something along those lines. They're held in high stature in our community."

"Mine lasted for seconds though, much longer than what you're saying." I was getting flustered now. Despite starting to find out about just what it was I saw two years ago, I still had just as many questions if not more now.

"You must remember there is still much we do not know about the field of biotics, for example when you create an explosion with a Warp or something similar, how do you feel?"

By now we were simply stopped outside the door, neither of us wanting to go in and end this conversation, although for entirely different reasons. "Like…like I've done something wrong. I don't know why but I just feel this deep discomfort in the back of my mind, it's as if I was committing some crime and got caught in the act."

"It would seem that particular sensation transcends race then." She caressed her chin, obviously deep in thought. "But back to your lengthy vision. If I had to postulate a theory of my own, it would be because of the violence of your charge that the intensity and length of the dreamlike state were so drastically increased. Instead of the trancelike meditation our people engage in, you were in the middle of combat with heightened sensations and engaging in one of the most physically taxing biotic maneuvers we've discovered so far."

"That actually makes sense."

As the entrance opened and the doc swiveled in her chair to face us, Liara offered a few final words of advice. "In summation, despite its possible advantages and the lure of seeing what should not be possible, I would not try doing so again if I were you. The long-term effects could be disastrous and I am not simply referring to your body, the mental toll could be extremely severe in the long run."

"Thanks for the advice Liara." I gave a genuinely friendly smile and she colored as she shrank back, the realization that she was conversing with the Butcher of Torfan probably re-entering her mind. "You've made me feel much better."

She just nodded as the medical professional inserted herself, seeing that the talk was over. "Good to see you again Nathan." The white haired medic extended her hand to the asari. "And you must be Liara T'Soni, the commander mentioned we might be adding to the crew before we touched down. I'm Karin Chakwas."

"It is very nice to meet you doctor." She nodded politely. "I am afraid my actions on Therum completely exhausted me, Commander Shepard said I should come up and talk to you."

"Of course miss, I'll have nutrients specifically tailored to replenish an asari's strength for you in just a moment." She turned to me. "And what seems to be the problem with you young man?"

"Got shot in the shoulder." I pointed to the hole with the bullet still lodged somewhere in it. "If it's not too much trouble I was thinking you could patch me up a little bit."

"Of course, please take a seat on the bench behind you." Her tone was professional, obviously trying not to set me off again with any mention of the Perri name which caused me to sigh. In a manner of seconds, she had hooked the exhausted asari who had passed out almost immediately up to a bag of nutrients and turned back to me, needle in hand as I just sat there like the shirtless idiot I now was. "Now I'm just going to apply a general anesthetic to the area and then after that I'll assess the wound to see the best course of action."

The least I could do now was sit down, shut up and take the shot like an adult for once. However, that didn't mean that I could stop a pained wince from crossing my features as the hollow device pricked my shoulder. "So, uh, I guess I owe you an apology for the whole…flipping out and cutting you off thing back when you brought up, you know."

"It's perfectly fine Nathan, there's no need to apologize." She quickly swiped away the blood that was pooling around the wounded area with quick and surgical precision before leaning over to look at the entry hole. For a few moments, silenced filled the room as I let her do her thing while I tried not to watch. I'd been shot more than my fair share of times and in the heat of the battle it was one thing to act tough but once the battle fervor had died down…well that was a whole different story.

As she poked and prodded the thankfully numb area, Chakwas began to speak again. "I should apologize on my end for bringing it up out of the blue like that. It's been two years since Emma's unfortunate passing but I'm sure it still stings horribly and probably will for the rest of your life. The passing of your fiance's not just something that you, 'get over,' with enough time."

"Well I appreciate that Doc Chakwas." I sighed loudly. "Still though, you didn't mean anything negative by it and I should have reacted better. You've probably noticed already that I tend to put my feelings out in the open fairly easily, probably too easily. I think sometimes I need to learn to just bite the bullet so to speak and deal with things more like an adult and less like a fucking kid who's not getting his way."

"Well that's a very mature attitude to take." She straightened up and held a tiny, grain-sized object aloft. "Speaking of bullets, while you were busy staring at the ceiling, I found this."

I held my hand out and she deposited the red-stained round into it. "Another souvenir for the collection."

The white-haired Alliance medical specialist looked at me strangely. "…You keep the bullets?"

"Yep, that's just one more thing a kid from the mean streets of Detroit who should have died years ago survived." I pointed to my piercingly blue fake eye. "I've still got the knife from the guy who made me get this old thing."

"You Marines are all the same." Shaking her head, she quickly closed up the slight opening and slathered some medi-gel over it just for good measure. "I don't know how the commander does it but he seems to always surround himself with some extremely…unique individuals."

Hopping off of the bed, I experimentally flexed my arm a bit. Weak and sore as hell but I could lift it now, probably thanks to the copious amount of medication flowing through my system. "Hey you chose this life, remember that doc." Throwing a wink at the older woman before gingerly pulling my shirt back on, I sauntered away, feeling much better about the world in general. I think her and Liara's general air of niceness just wore off on me during the ride up and quick operation. "You're the best Karin, I can't wait to get shot again so you can prod me while I'm shirtless."

She just threw her hands up in the classic, "get out of here," motion as she turned towards her asari patient who was still motionless and hooked up to the bag of medical fluids. "Go back to training or whatever it is that you do on the ship you big meathead."

"Sweet." I gave an overenthusiastic exclamation. "I'll make sure to tell Caleb that I've got doc's orders that I can spend as much time down there as I'd like."

"Don't you dare young man." She whirled on me with a playfully fierce expression. "You're not allowed to spar, go near a gun, or use the workout equipment until I clear that injury of yours, understood?"

"Even better." I was now halfway out of the office but I made sure to lean my head back in so I could catch her expression as I offered a final body-blow to her sanity. "Now I can leave all the weapon maintenance to Williams, I'm sure she'll be ecstatic about that."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Her vaguely British voice drifted out of the room towards me.

"Sorry Chakwas, couldn't make that out." Hurriedly, I made my way to the elevator and closed the door before she could bring any needles to bear. Hey, you can never be too careful alright? "She's way too motherly for this gig, I'm gonna have a hell of a time teasing her."

Kicking back, I waited as the elevator slowly descended into the bowels of the Normandy. Deciding quickly to try and escape the clutches of Chelsea Shepard who would instantly stick me back on my on-ship gig, injuries or not, I stealthed my way into the room I shared with a couple other of the ground team members.

"The hell's this?" I couldn't help but exclaim as I saw that someone had disturbed the sanctity of my equipment. If there's one thing the Alliance drilled into you it was order and that was currently violently disturbed as my kukri, Sierra, had been knocked from its upright perch and onto the bottom of the stand.

Mumbling to myself, I grabbed the weapon only to pause mid-motion, the reason for its displacement becoming clear as a miniaturized datapad was now resting there. It wasn't clear from the outside but once you started rifling through my gear, it could be seen pretty quickly. "Alright, what's going on here?"

As my right hand absent-mindedly restored order among my effects, I picked up the datapad and activated it, only for it to be DNA locked. I turned the device over, looking for some sort of personal note that would identify who it would belong to. When I didn't see anything, I gave final glance around the room before my curiosity finally got the better of me and I placed my finger onto the scanner.

I mean, what's the worst that can happen? If it's somebody like Mitch's I'll just tell them it wound up in my locker and I was trying to find out who it belonged to. To my great surprise though, the obnoxiously large lock icon in the middle of the screen disappeared and I was brought to the home screen of the device. "Maybe the commander decided to get me a welcoming gift or something?" My eyes were immediately drawn to the one icon on the screen that was flashing the two words, " _new message_ ," in the upper corner. At this point, I really only had one option of course.

Fortunately, I knew who it was from, unfortunately it was not from anyone on the Normandy and was from someone that I had a rather…mixed past with. Obviously she wrote this one while in her typically terse mission mode, although I should say that she dictated as there was no way she was on the ship which led to a whole host of other issues, namely that this mission was already infiltrated by at least one spy. The message simply read. " _We need to talk. I'll meet you at your shop upon your arrival back to the Citadel – Nyx_."

Fuckin' Cerberus. Should've figured they wouldn't just leave me alone.

 **A/N: Well my vacation was awesome, I didn't fall out of the boat and caught a few fish along the way so I consider that a win. Plus, thanks to some great help from my beta Ranger Station Charlie, I managed to stay on schedule for two postings in a row (gasp!) which is unfortunately rare. Also, the "Terror" is a little technique he thought of during one of our brainstorming sessions so if you liked it, that was pretty much his baby and not a creation of mine.**

 **Big thanks to LogicalPremise and his Encyclopedia Biotica which is where I received the inspiration for the biotic meditation/visions angle along with the "bad feeling" that goes along with detonations. Seriously, if you enjoy just reading theory crafting his stuff is absolutely great and does a fantastic job at making biotics a consistent force with limitations and capabilities that aren't clearly defined in the games.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Stormdragon981: Hahaha, who knows? With the geth improvements already shown here, I'm really open to creating alternate units and the hoppers are already kind of ninja-esque so there might be something in the future along those lines ;)**

 **GJD: I'd contend with you that it's been shown multiple times (especially in this chapter) that Wolf's skills haven't degraded one bit since his N7 days. The thing that has however, is his ability to function in groups larger than two or three as it's something he hasn't done consistently since his days back with Sierra Team. I do appreciate the constructive feedback immensely though as if that's what you're getting while reading it then I'm clearly doing something wrong as that's not the angle I'm going for at all.**

 **Dekuton: Assuming you're talking about the "biotic excavation" bit, that's kind of foreshadowing of how things are going to go in the future. While the general plotlines will remain relatively the same, I'm in no way constrained by the limitations of a game so that's where you'll see things begin to diverge, especially as we get further along into the story.**

 **Sniperdude79: Thanks for the kind words! MN in the summertime is absolutely gorgeous so I'm a bit jealous of you but man…I don't know how you cope with those winters. We were up pretty much in the boundary waters and I've heard it's consistently forty degrees below there.**

 **ForgottenPrince: Thanks for the review, glad you're liking it!**

 **Fallout Fan: Thanks for the feedback man, it's definitely something that I'll be taking into consideration when writing future Wolf/Tali scenes.**

 **KtB: Hey well I'm glad you found it buddy!**

 **11: I get where you're coming from but at that point, all the geth in the structure had been eliminated and as logical as the geth are, the obvious threat was coming from pretty much everywhere else at that point so I don't think her getting swarmed was too much of a worry.**


	9. Show Me How to Lie

The datapad in my hand was slammed down in frustration. "You fuckin' agree to one little prison break for a terrorist organization while you're on a homicidal rampage and they have you by the damn balls." I mumbled under my breath as I ran my hands through my closely cropped black hair. I'm not sure if there's any audio or video devices littered around the Normandy so there's no sense risking myself in an outburst, even if it would feel nice. It'd be a bit tough to explain that one to the commanders. Even if I could worm my way out of in the end due to a lack of evidence, it would bring up some uncomfortable questions.

What little I had in terms of a long-term tactical mind went into overdrive, trying to play out the various scenarios. Although no threat, or anything really, was mentioned in the brief message it didn't take much to figure out that not meeting with the woman would come back to bite me in the ass one way or another. Since they were a "pro-human" organization, which is about as vague a description as it comes, I doubt if they would go to the extent of getting me imprisoned due to my involvement as not only would it get an N7 Vanguard removed from a position where he can help humanity but they would start getting some people hot on their trail as questions surfaced of who supplied the prison raid and organized the whole thing since I didn't have the resources or motives do it on my own. So basically what I'm saying is it'd be solely out of spite if they were gonna go to the extent of anonymously leaking it to some Alliance official who would send a crack team of badass commandoes to bring me to justice. Again the last part might be a bit of wishful thinking on my part though, if I'm going out then you can be damn sure it'll be in a blaze of glory. Although…harming Alliance personnel isn't high on my to-do list, maybe I can just take a few out non-lethally before getting gunned down if worst comes to worst. That wouldn't be a bad way to go I guess.

Still, Miranda didn't seem like the type of person to waste her time with something like this, her personality pretty much screamed, "I have a contingency plan set for just about every situation." Now that I think back to her, "mission mode," there was no way in hell that she would go to the extent of having their onboard contact, who I will have to look into at a much later date when I'm not recovering from a bullet wound, place a DNA-encrypted datapad in the ground team's personal quarters for me to stumble upon unless she had a way of securing my allegiances in one manner or another. So if I had to guess they're either going to threaten Daxy and Lia or have some other way to coerce me into doing their dirty work that I haven't even thought of yet.

With a loud sigh, I threw myself backwards onto the bed and let the electronics fall out of my hand. "And here I thought I'd just have to show up, shoot a few people and get paid for it." Yeah, I know it's probably not great for my psyche to just accept killing as easily as I do but it is what it is. There's only so much time in life and the art of killing is the thing I chose to be proficient in both by choice and the environment I was placed in, somebody's gotta do it so it might as well be me I guess. "This is some bullshit."

"What's that?"

"Sorry, didn't see you there Mitch." I played it extremely casual as I only glanced over from the bed, not even moving besides a slight shift of the eyes. "It's just ridiculous that on my first mission back, I'm the one out of all people who gets shot." Letting a tired grin work its way across my face, I fell into our old routine easily. "Out of everybody here I was betting it'd be you. Tali's much too nice for me to ever think something like that, the Sheps are combat gods so that'd never happen and once I saw the eyes you were making at Liara I knew she wasn't going to get hurt since you'd dive in front of anything directed her way."

He just laughed at me, quickly understanding that I was just trying to get him riled up a little. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Your natural preferences when it comes to the fairer sex are rearing their head once again Mr. Sniper." I slipped the datapad under my pillow discreetly and he popped down next to me on the bed, giving me a light love tap on the arm as he did so. "Even though I don't usually swing for asari, I will say she is extremely pretty."

Mitch just kinda smiled in a goofy manner, obviously daydreaming about his newest lady of interest. "You think so?"

"Yeah I do. Although she's quite a bit younger than the ladies you usually go for when it comes to asari." I elbowed him in the ribs, returning his initial attack. "And a lot more innocent and naïve too. Which means you'd better watch your step carefully big guy, she doesn't seem like the type of girl to just fool around with in a one-night stand or something like that."

He didn't even argue with my statements which surprised me a bit. Although, I guess Mitch always had been very acknowledging of his own…weaknesses when it came to the ladies. "Wow, when did you turn into the expert on women all of the sudden? I thought that was one of my roles when it came to our duo?"

"Hey," I cracked a sad little grin, "I'm the only one who's managed to hold down a relationship for any length of time so you might wanna rethink that statement." As Mitch winced a little, I held up a hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be a downer there." Bouncing up from the bed, I slapped him on the back as I walked away. "I'm glad you found a person of interest that doesn't count as fraternization if you two hook up. Hell, I could even put in a good word for you if you'd like."

"Nah, I think I'm good." He winked. "That would do more to harm my chances I think, your reputation as the Butcher seems to precede you in this case."

"Fair enough. Although for a guy who has four nicknames to my one, you'd think you'd have a bit more of a rep yourself."

"Oh God, please no."

Ever since finding out about Mitch's various exploits since I'd left the Alliance, I took every chance I could get to tease him about it. "After all, you're the White Phantom!"

"Wolf."

"The Arbiter of Sanctum!"

"Stop."

"The Assassin Saint!"

"Please."

"Ooh and my personal favorite, The Hitman with a Halo!"

"That's it!"

Before I knew what was happening, I had been tackled to the ground by the shorter man who was now laughing as he tried unsuccessfully to pin me to the ground. "You do realize I outweigh you by approximately seventy pounds right. Even if you're well-built for a shorter guy, there's only so much you can do when you're at that much of a disadvantage."

His response was cut short as the female twin entered the room unseen and interrupted our grappling with some extremely amused teasing. "Wow uh, when Caleb told me that you two were partners I didn't know he meant that in every sense of the word."

Tossing Mitch off of me to clean up our rather awkward position, I got to my feet and stared at the woman before leveling a flat, "What?"

"I mean, I get it." She tilted her head and smiled in an infuriatingly cute fashion that a deadly Spectre who could kill you in the blink of an eye shouldn't be capable of. "Now that Wolf's not Alliance anymore it's technically not fraternization so go right ahead, I'm not gonna stop you. Besides, you two would make a nice couple. You balance each other out."

Mitch pointed to me. "He was engaged. To a woman."

"And he's been hitting on that asari since we first spotted her."

"So? I'm not one to judge." She shrugged. "Anyway, we're heading back to the Citadel to regroup and figure out our next step. So far we haven't heard a peep from Saren or his robot buddies in terms of major movements so this is a perfect time to get our newest member appropriately geared along with some other things."

"Let me guess, you would like me to hook her up with some stuff on the cheap since I'm technically co-owner of a shop and heaven forbid the Alliance spends a few credits making sure its personnel have the best shit on the market."

"Whatever would make you think that?" Chelsea opened her mouth wide in feigned hurt. "I never even realized you had a store that specialized in top of the line military equipment of all shapes and sizes until just now."

Mitch leaned in to make a quick retort. "You know how it works Wolf, Alliance protocol hasn't changed that much in the time you've been gone."

"Shit Chels, I just feel like I'm being used now. Here I was thinking I was recruited because I was a hardcore badass, but instead it's only because you wanted me to be the Normandy's personal weapon bitch."

"Why can't it be both?" A slug from Chelsea nailed both of us in the shoulder. Damn, that actually hurt. From her taunting grin she most likely knew it too the smug bastard. It's funny how opposite the Shepards are when it comes to formality onboard the ship, although I'd leaned recently about Caleb's more flavorful side so who knows, maybe he just needs it coaxed out of him. "Whether I agree with you or not, we've gotta get this done. Bro thinks having another powerful biotic on the team will help and for once I agree with him so get yourselves ready for a quick shore visit. He'll be assigning groups once we get closer."

"Ah right. I forgot that whole thing." Standard Alliance protocols dictated that anytime personnel were on a directed, "shore leave," no matter how short or business-oriented, they traveled in groups of at least three to keep each other out of trouble.

Well this is going to make meeting up with Miranda somewhat interesting to say the least. I guess I'll just have to play her off as some interested client, take her into the back for a, "business discussion," and hope that she's satisfied with that because otherwise I might as well just phase through the ship right now and end it all because I can't imagine anyone on the ship besides Woley…wait a sec, Woley already knows my Cerberus history since I came clean when he visited me after I moved to the Citadel. Maybe if I just talk to the guy about this he could make sure I'm not compromising anything. Who knows, I could even turn this thing around and become a sort of double agent to help them get intel on Cerberus.

The thought only crossed my mind for a few seconds before I mentally punched myself. There's no way in hell that I'm going to let one of the only people who has stood beside me no matter what, get trapped in this web I've made for myself. This is my problem and I've gotta deal with it or die trying.

"You hear me Wolf?" Chelsea snapped her fingers in front of my face. "You kinda zoned out there on me."

"Sorry." I cracked a goofy, obfuscating grin. "I was just trying to think of how I was going to ditch you suckers and have some fun once I get back to the Citadel."

She just walked out of the room, her role apparently done. "Well if you do manage to escape, let me know so I can join you too. Last thing I want is to be stuck on the galactic hub with my stick in the mud brother."

"I'll see what I can do."

Now that it was just Woley and me in the room, he turned to me with a knowing look on his face. "Wolf, what's going on man?"

"What do you mean?" He just pursed his lips. Fucking Mitch's always gotta be the one to get a read on me. Usually I can pull one over on people I don't know that well thanks to my preternatural talent for lying out of my ass thanks to my Detroit days but the Infiltrator wasn't one of those people. "Look, I'm tired as shit, I got shot in the shoulder and now I don't even get to take a piss break on the station without having some Alliance nitwits looking over my shoulder."

"Shore leave hasn't changed too much since you've been gone. You never complained about it back then when we'd have to go ashore with some random Marines tagging along."

Clearly he wasn't going to let this go, but I was still not sure how to bring up the subject of the datapad, or if I wanted to it all for that matter. An equal mixture of fear at how he'd react to knowing I hadn't cut all ties with Cerberus like I said over a year ago and not wanting to get the person who was practically a brother to me mixed up in something that could derail his bright career mixed in my gut, leading me to keep up the charade for now at least. "Yeah well I'm not Alliance property anymore like back then. Things are different."

"Apparently so." Well shit, that was the wrong thing to say. It was obvious from the blonde's dejected look that I had hurt him. I wasn't quite sure if it was the fact that I was obviously covering shit up or that I basically implied he was a military stooge but the withdrawn expression told me all I needed to know. "I gotta get my go-ashore clothes together anyway, I'll catch you later Wolf."

I didn't bother telling him that we shared quarters so obviously his stuff would be in the room we were both in right now. Looks like I'm not the only one who can't lie to the other at least. "Alright Mitch, I'll catch you later then." Fucking say something, he put his ass on the line to get you this gig so the least you can do is show a bit of kindness for once. "Hey uh, maybe I can show you the sights once we touch down? Take you to Chora's Den and maybe grab a few of the bullet shavings left over from that gunfight? Even if I don't drink I can at least buy you one."

"You stopped drinking again?" That actually piqued his interest. He was one of the few people who knew about my lack of consumption of alcohol thanks to always wanting to keep my wits about me and he knew the reason I had disregarded that stance too.

"Yeah I did." I smiled warmly, thankful to not have to deceive the lieutenant for the time being. "Getting to sleep's still pretty rough but once I do, the nightmares haven't been nearly as bad. I think putting the whole thing with the Reds to bed helped out more than I ever would have thought. Finch taking care of Weisman for me was probably the best thing to snap me out of my rage-induced stupor."

"That's good man. That's actually really good." He shot a friendly wink as he walked out the door. "Maybe I will take you up on that offer now that I know that little detail."

"All you've gotta do is convince the commanders."

His voice echoed back in, causing me to laugh. "When you've got this much charm, wit and good looks is failure even an option?"

The humor quickly turned to dejection as the datapad's contents rolled over me again like a crashing wave. Why can't this just be simple for once? Why won't the universe allow me to just be one part of a ground team where I can kick back, hang out with my squad like the old days, deal with a rogue Spectre with a giant squid-ship, find out what the hell these visions are all about and crush a few skulls along the way? Now the fact that what I just said didn't scream, "simple," at all should mean that I couldn't possibly be bemoaning my situation but now I've gotta deal with a terrorist organization to top it all off. I'm fucked aren't I?

 **LINE BREAK**

"…and check back in every hour on the dot for a situation report." Shit. With Caleb running this tight of a ship, no pun intended, my chances of sneaking away to deal with Lawson were growing slimmer by the minute.

Chelsea took over the talking for her brother. "And the moment you've all been waiting for." She looked very pointedly at the direction of the cockpit just a short distance away from outside the decontamination bay where the group of us ten stood in more or less what could count as civvy attire and the sound of someone imitating a drumroll could be heard. Fucking Joker. "Here are the team assignments for this leave. The first team will be headed up by li'l bro," a sigh escaped the Lion of Elysium and he covered his face in embarrassment, "and he will be accompanied by Miss Zorah and Corporal Jenkins. I'll take Wrex and Garrus for the second group. If you're on the ground team and weren't named, that means you're part of the third group."

Which leaves me, Mitch, Liara and…shit, I could already feel the stare from the dark-haired woman in the Alliance gear. I didn't fucking choose this Williams so go glare at the Sheps if it makes you feel better. Trust me, the last thing I wanted is for the gunny's ass to be around while I'm trying to conduct some clandestine shit. At least Mitch should be distracted with Liara and helping pick out all her gear. I had talked to Daxy and we had basically arranged a sort of deal to provide T'Soni with everything she'd need, which was a top of the line set of light armor, a pistol, an SMG and a military-grade amp for basically the cost we got it for. In exchange of course, we would be supplying the Alliance with a decent number of weapons and armor a month for a pretty solid price in the future along with getting certain, "favors." Which I'm quickly learning is almost more worthwhile than credits when it comes to this type of business. Just look at me and the fact that a certain pro-human organization has me by the balls thanks to some, "favors," and you'll see just how important that kind of hold on someone is.

"Well um, here we go team. Follow me I guess." Mitch hesitantly gestured the rest of our impromptu team into the decontamination chamber and the four of us waited as the ship went through its necessary procedures. This whole Cerberus thing is going to be such a pain in my ass to deal with. If only I had just said no when they offered to hel- no, screw that. Part of learning to cope with what happened is accepting things for what they are now, dwelling on the past is going to get me nowhere. If I'm going to make it through this current shitstorm in one piece and without finding myself in an Alliance jail cell, then I really need to put my entire brain to work, even if it's not always my strong point. Sure, battle tactics I could handle but actual strategic thought like this would take was not even close to my strongest feature.

Finally, the doors opened into the Citadel docking bay and I stepped out onto the station once again, with one more bullet wound than I had the last time I was here. I'm gonna have more scars than skin between the brand, knife gashes and gunshots by the time I'm thirty. "Uh." I was taken out of my thoughts by my friend and battle partner's uncharacteristic hesitance. Surrounded by two rather attractive ladies like we were and knowing that both of them were not interested in me in the slightest thanks to my background, I would have thought that he would begin working his game the moment we were away from Commander Shepard's watchful eye. "I guess we should go to your shop first and get Liara equipped then?"

"Yeah." I stepped up next to my friend and discreetly grabbed him by the arm. "There's a cab this way ladies so we'll take that right to my store." Lowering my voice quite a bit, I turned to the shorter blonde. "You all good my man? I'm not the best judge of people's actions but you seem like you're a bit tongue-tied right now."

"I guess I'm just nervous. This is my first chance to get to know her away from the ship and the stress that comes with being there." Holy shit, Mitch is nervous? Seeing my expression, he laughed at himself. "I know right? Doesn't seem like me."

"You're damn right it doesn't. First off." I checked to make sure that the two of them were out of earshot which they were, T'Soni was taking in the sights and Gunnery Chief Williams was pointedly ignoring both the asari and me, which ruled out Mitch by extension meaning I was in the clear. "You're talking about getting to know her…and I don't mean **know** her, know her."

"Yeah I get it, I sleep around more than a little bit."

I just shrugged, at least he was self-aware about his tendency to love 'em and leave 'em. It's worked for him so far I guess. "The second thing is you can't even talk to her unless it's some mission-related thing and you take any excuse to do that but other than that you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs. It's like middle school all over again."

"I didn't think you went to school Wolf." He winked at me.

"Every once in a while I made an appearance just to make sure the teachers didn't get too comfortable. I went enough to read, write, do basic math and other than that I didn't really give a shit."

"Wow. You've got so many layers Wolf." By now we had finally gotten a cab so the conversation was drawing to a close since I didn't want to embarrass the poor sniper in front of his newfound love interest. "Here I thought you were just a big brute with biotics being your only saving grace."

Williams piled into the cab and snorted as she moved past. "Are you implying he's not?"

"Excuse me? I think you're forgetting that both Mitch and I passed through the N program; while I may not have had the best upbringing, that still didn't stop me from graduating with the highest honors possible for a Marine commando."

Mitch laughed at my firing back and Liara just looked a bit lost, she was probably still recovering from the sights of the Citadel. It was just an impression I got but she didn't seem like she got out of those excavation sites too much. Not that it was a bad thing, I just wasn't much used to the, "academic types." "I'm actually glad you got assigned to our little party here gunny, I could use someone else to help me keep Wolf in line." The lieutenant looked pointedly at his subordinate. "Just be careful not to badmouth him too much, **I'm** the only one who gets to do that."

"Sure, I don't mind keeping him in check as long as it doesn't involve direct contact…and noted."

I just ignored the two of them and sat next to the much nicer and quieter blue lady. "See Liara, I come back to the Alliance to save the galaxy and this is what I get? These kids these days have no respect for their elders."

"I-I'm not sure how to respond."

"It's just a joke made in poor taste, you really don't have to." Well if Mitch is gonna be an ass to me, I'll do what he wishes he could do and talk to the Maiden. "So I started compiling a little list as we were heading here and let me know if there's anything I'm missing alright?"

She kind of squirmed a bit at being put on the spot like this but then straightened up as if she was answering a teacher or something like that. "Go ahead, I will answer them to the best of my ability."

"It's fine Liara," Mitch finally butted in with a friendly smile, "no need to be formal."

As she nodded at Woley, I started in. "Alright, first off comes the armor. I'm guessing you haven't really worn much before considering your field of expertise?"

"No, being a scientist, usually the threat of my biotics were enough to ward off any pirate attacks that would threaten us; but my mother did make sure I went through some self-defense lessons before I left to continue my goals so I am not exactly defenseless in a fight."

"Fair enough." I sent off a message to Daxy saying to get a few top of the line armor sets ready to try out. "We'll go with light armor then, since you're a bio-specialist you'll want stuff that's not heavy so you're less fatigued and unable to use your biotics in a-"

My omni-tool beeping interrupted my thoughts and I glanced down to see that Daxy had already messaged me back which was unlike him, usually he's rather slow on the draw. "Wolf you alright there? That message looked like it surprised you."

"Yeah, sorry." I gestured vaguely with my hand in a dismissive fashion as my wrist-mounted device had all my attention. "You mind explaining the rest?"

Not even waiting for an answer, I fully started reading the text. _"I'll have Lia get a few sets ready. I just thought you should know that there's a woman here asking for you personally and she refuses to meet with me about business. I don't know how she knew you were going to be back but she insisted you would be here to talk."_

Shit. Sounds like Miranda's already made her appearance at the shop. I would have thought I'd at least have a little bit of a breather but I guess that was just too much to hope for. _"I'm guessing she's dark-haired, a few years older than me and extremely good-looking?"_

This one took a bit longer to come back to me. _"That sounds right and I guess she is somewhat attractive. Her fringe looks rather nice and her waist is fairly well-proportioned."_

" _Wow, with smooth lines like that it's no wonder you won Chloe over."_ I had to stifle my laughter at the turian's awkward description as Mitch talked about pistols and such, explaining all that to the newest member of the ground team. _"Anyway, I know who she is and I was expecting her. Let her into our personal quarters and don't worry about it. I'll handle everything with her if you can just get things ready for us when we arrive, throw a few pistols, submachine guns and asari suited military-grade amps in there too with the armor just so she's got a few decisions to make."_ Which would coincidentally also buy me time to handle things with Miranda.

With that now out of the way, I returned my gaze back to the group who seemed to be involved in a discussion about the merits of different pistol models. I quickly reached into the breast pocket of my armor-plated jacket and pulled out my M11, ejecting the ammo block as I handed it over to T'Soni. "Here, see what you think of the feel of this."

Mitch just leaned back in his seat and we settled into one of our favorite arguments. "Well if you wanna talk straight weight of the weapon in comparison to the damage it can dole out, nothing beats a Paladin."

"Yeah if you want your heat sink to need venting after about four shots." Ashley butted in with a lighthearted jab and I just stared with a happily agape expression. Finally, someone ganged up against Mitch for once.

I just smiled happily. "Thank you chief. It's nice to know somebody here has good taste in weapons."

"Oh don't get me wrong, yours isn't great either." In an instant, I turned on the woman with a fierce look, ready to defend the honor of my baby. "The M11 is an ok all-around gun, but it has no specialty. At least the Paladin does one thing somewhat well."

"Well fine then Ms. Weapons Expert." Both arms crossed my chest in defiance. "Why don't **you** tell me what the best Alliance pistol out there is?"

"Carnifex obviously." Mitch and I both scoffed at the same time before giving each other a look. "It's got basically all the power of the lieutenant's weapon but with much better heat sink capacity."

"Well that's great and all unless the enemy has decent shields which means basically anyone that poses somewhat of a threat."

I pointed to the blonde. "Thank you Mitch."

"Well that's what my Lancer's for obviously." The raven-haired Marine shook her head as if it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "Strip their shields with the rifle and if they don't go down in your first couple bursts, you finish them with the pistol."

"Well that's great and all but there's one thing here that trumps all that nonsense." I pointed to Liara who had shyly abstained from the conversation while the rest of us raged over our preference in instruments of death. "Biotics. Miss T'Soni slaps your ass down with a singularity and we'll see just how well either of you do."

As she wriggled in her chair, uncomfortable at the newfound attention, Mitch turned to me. "How come you didn't involve yourself in that hypothetical beatdown? You'd be caught in that Singularity too."

"I'm a biotic too short guy." I nudged his shoulder. "And us mentally gifted folk always stick together, isn't that right Liara?"

"Um, I suppose so, yes?"

"Just talking woman to woman here, you can slap him if you need to T'Soni. It'll make everyone happy."

"Harsh Williams, harsh but true."

 **LINE BREAK**

"Well. Here we are." I opened the door and gestured grandly for the other three to come in. "Welcome to Jack's Armory."

"Nathan." My turian business partner stepped out from behind the counter and greeted me with a hug, whispering as he did so. "The woman is in the kitchen, I can take care of things here." As he stepped back his voice raised a couple levels as he publicly addressed me. "I'm glad to see the Spirits have seen fit to keep you alive for a little while longer at least."

I chuckled as I began the introductions. "Mitch, you already know Daxy."

"It's good to see you again First Lieutenant Woley."

"Likewise Daxyrus." He took in the appearance of the shop. "And I've gotta say, the store looks even better than the last time I was here."

"Business has been good, what else can I say?"

"The others are Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams," the two gave a little nod, "and Liara T'Soni. She's the one who needs the equipment. Team, this is my business partner and good friend, Daxyrus Lenril." I paused for a moment. "Also, if any of you even try to call me Nathan I will biotically kick your ass. Daxy's the only one who can get away with that shit." Rubbing my hands together nervously in anticipation of what was coming, I wrapped up the introductions. "Daxy here's gonna take care of everything you guys need. We struck a deal with the Alliance to make sure you're well supplied with whatever you need for just about the price it takes to make sure we can still run this thing so if you see something you need, talk to him."

"What are you doing Wolf?" Mitch tilted his head in curiosity, obviously picking up on the fact that I wasn't planning on being the one outfitting them.

"There's a client in the back who I have to talk to personally so just let me know if you guys are wrapping up things and I'll cut it short with her so we can head back to the Normandy."

Mitch raised an eyebrow and looked over to Williams. "Client huh? Sounds kinda suspicious to me but what do you think chief?"

"Well if any woman out there can deal with that face they're a better person than me."

Mitch chuckled, obviously pleased to have found someone who was more than eager to make a joke at my expense and in response I just raised a single digit as I left. "Where's Lia at Daxy? I would've thought she'd be down here by now."

"In her room." He gestured vaguely into the personal space that was at the back of the storefront where the three of us lived when the store was closed. "Actually, would you mind sending her down to help? I'm sure she wouldn't mind seeing you and I could use the girl down here just to pitch in with some of the tech equipment."

"I'll go grab her." I saluted to the rest of the team and made my way into the back, blazing past the kitchen and taking the steps two at a time to where the bedrooms were located.

The quarian woman poked her head out at the sound of my footsteps. "Nate?"

"Lia!" As she flung the door open, I picked her up and swung her around a bit, my own extreme happiness at being back home surprising me more than a bit. "I missed you girl."

"Keelah. Could you-" She tapped me on the shoulder and I gently let her slide down so her feet touched the ground. "I'm glad to see you made it back home safe."

"Picked up a new scar but yeah, I'm more or less in one piece." I pulled my shirt down to reveal the geth bullet wound.

"So…are you here for good now or…?"

She let the question trail off and I shook my head. "Not yet sorry, the Normandy just docked at the Citadel to resupply and outfit one of our new ground team members. Speaking of that, Daxy needs you downstairs to pitch in with stuff and I've got someone I need to talk to so we'll catch up afterwards alright? I'll tell you all about my gunfights with the geth which I know you've just been waiting for so long to hear about."

"Bosh'tet." She slugged me in the shoulder. For someone who worked around instruments of death as much as she did along with the fact that her two housemates had both been military, she still really did not like talking about the subject at all. I mostly left her alone about it but every once in a while, I would have to tease her about it. She was practically like a little sister at this point so I guess that's kind of how it works in a family.

As she moved past to go downstairs, I yelled at her retreating figure. "Hey, where's the client at?"

"In the office! I'm not sure why she wants to meet with you but-"

"Hey I get enough of that from my squad thank you very much, get out there and earn your paycheck." In an extremely mature move, I stuck my tongue out as she just stuck her mask out defiantly, both of us laughing to ourselves as we separated.

Stepping up to the door of the office that often served as our impromptu meeting room for potential business partners, I took a deep, calming breath. "Alright Wolf. Be firm but don't be an asshole. Just let her make the first move and play off of that."

Placing my hand against the green circle in the center of the door, it folded away a split-second later to reveal an extremely at ease looking Miranda Lawson who looked just as improbably good looking in a plain but slightly revealing black dress as the last time I saw her that night where we- alright Wolf, let's not go back to that whole hot mess of a situation right off the bat.

Trying to hide the heat that was quickly rushing to my face from the memories that came flooding back of that night before she left, I greeted her gruffly. "Lawson."

"Wolfert." Good, it seems she was in her business mode then. As strange as it sounds I'd rather not have to deal with the side of her that was friendly and approachable or what I liked to call her, "Cerberus Recruitment Personality," right now. "I'm glad you're so willing to meet with me on short notice like this. Especially after-"

"It's no problem." Like I said, I really just wanted this to be a business transaction and nothing more if possible because if we started down that road again I was pretty helpless. It had uh, it'd been quite a while. "With what you guys have on me I can't exactly afford to just blow you off and not worry about the consequences of that."

"Still, I'd rather not resort to that if we don't have to. We **are** looking out for humanity's best interests after all and having you sitting in an Alliance prison cell wasting away wouldn't exactly be a resourceful use of our assets."

Great. So they already view me as an, "asset." Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to get out of this situation with my morals fully intact? Putting on my nicest smile, I took a seat across from the woman and kicked my feet up on the desk. "Of course not, I'm sure I could be of much more use breaking into prisons for Cerberus full-time." Not even a sociable smile crossed her face, I'm sure the agent was probably just too busy reminiscing about all the great times we had there. Like when she almost had to shoot me. "If that's not the case though, what do you need from me?"

"Your current position on the Normandy has almost infinite potential." Of course it's that. Why would it be anything but that? "With the exception of Gunnery Chief Williams, all the Alliance personnel onboard trusts you implicitly-"

"Which means they're perfect to take advantage of naturally."

Ignoring my comment, she continued her speech. "This puts you in an advantageous situation where the possibly tremendously influential info that the Normandy crew will run across can be shared with Cerberus." She pointedly let the silence linger, choosing to focus on the fact that I wouldn't necessarily be working **against** my employers, just allowing some of that invaluable data to slip through the cracks so to speak. She leaned forward and opened her omni-tool, clearly getting to the crux of the whole deal. "All that I need from you is to be the conduit that passes that info along so all humanity can benefit, not just the Alliance." As my omni-tool beeped, she kept talking. "As a show of good faith, I just forwarded you the most updated hacking program Cerberus has ever developed. Interface with any terminal then all you have to do is remain in range and the software will handle the whole thing."

"What, your Cerberus techheads didn't have faith in my immense hacking ability?"

She actually did give a slight little smile at that. "You are a very skilled operator Wolfert but I believe that particular field is somewhat of a shortcoming of yours. This is just a little taste of what you can expect if you agree to the contract, every successful assignment means a reward which in turn will help your own combat ability which means you're really helping the Alliance after all when it comes down to it."

Very clever, you've managed to once again turn this thing around so humanity benefits and I'm actually not betraying anybody! How convenient. "What if I say no? What happens then? Does your organization threaten Daxy and Lia? Reveal the videos of me raiding that prison?"

"I figured you would ask something like that."

"Is that what those psych profiles told you?" I just laughed at my own callback to a conversation we had what felt like forever ago. That time I was in a much, much worse place mentally however, this time it was actually more of a joke instead of the hostile berating it had been back then.

"God. You really do latch onto something and never let go. How long have you been waiting to bring that one back up?"

"Since I got the message from you on the Normandy. I suppose you're not going to just tell me who you have onboard will you?" She just rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Sorry. Had to ask."

"Anyway."

She moved forward and shared the screen of her omni-tool with me and in a glance I read the pertinent details. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck." I ran my hand down my face. "You guys really know how to guilt trip a poor bastard don't you?" She just shrugged noncommittally, which was most certainly a wise move considering the subject. When it came to the Perri's I was still a bit unpredictable. "So you'd let one of the best Alliance doctors rot in a jail cell because he used a prosthetic that was made illegal literally hours beforehand because it was, 'crossing the ethical line,' if you don't get my help?" I looked up at the ceiling and exhaled loudly. "I'm assuming this means you can get him out of this? Otherwise you wouldn't bother bringing it up."

"That's correct."

"Fucking sign me up." While I had gotten over the rage that came with my fiancé's death, the guilt had never quite gone away thanks to the fact that I chose to ignore it over all other options. I had no way of verifying either positively or negatively that what she was saying was in fact true but there was no other option at this point. "That family's been through enough without having this piled on too."

She actually offered a conciliatory look that at least appeared genuine to her credit, even though after the stunt she pulled last time I had no clue anymore what was true and what was just an act to get me on her side. After all she basically played the, "honey pot," or whatever the hell you want to call it up during her initial recruitment trip up to the point of sleeping with me so that kind of throws everything out the window in terms of truth and lies.

"Alright, well just to finalize things in terms of business here, in the future you will be known as, 'Operative Dolos,' anytime we're on the clock."

"Dolos?" Seriously, I don't know much about ancient history but Cerberus has got some kind of fetish for old mythological sounding crap. "Does that have any significance to it or just do you like to say it?"

"Why don't you do a little research and find out for yourself." Her posture noticeably relaxed. "How's your time on the Normandy been so far?"

With that whole ordeal out of the way, "friendly," Miranda was now apparently making an appearance. "It's actually been really great." I smiled at being able to admit that it was amazing to be back in the Alliance, even if I was only a contractor. Things finally felt right again, like it was where I belonged. "Don't think I'd ever want to be full Alliance property again like back in the day but this whole independent operator thing is a pretty sweet setup actually."

"I'm glad to hear it." She grinned warmly again. Dammit she had a nice smile.

"So what kind of top-secret pro-human work are you up to right now?"

"Actually, I've really got nothing immediate after this surprisingly. My last order of business on the Citadel was to lure you back into the fold by any means necessary and since that's out of the way, I've got zero tasks until my shuttle leaves tomorrow." Ah shit, I was hoping she'd have to go immediately after our talk. Right now I'm torn between hoping that Mitch or the commander messages me to bail me out of this and the other option…which is hang out with the gorgeous terrorist. "I don't suppose you keep a bottle of wine or something of the sort around here?" She's actually fucking winking at me now. This is going downhill fast. "We should celebrate the restarting of what I'm sure is going to be a profitable partnership."

"Noooo. No alchohol. Last time I drank the stuff with you we ended up sleepi- stuff happened." Even though my mouth was saying words that indicated the opposite, by now I had crossed the desk and was sitting right in front of her seemingly without me even realizing it.

"Well it wasn't entirely bad was it?"

I couldn't help a stupid little grin from crossing my face. "I uh, no. I would say definitely not."

"Well I'm very glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself then." Grabbing my hand in her own, she started to lead me out of the office with resistance coming in name only. "I think since I gave you a tour of my house last time, it's only fair that you return the favor."

Once again, I couldn't stop my immediate reaction which was to laugh loudly. "Technically that was a Cerberus safehouse which basically had a kitchen, a place to store your gear and a bed so it's not quite the same thing."

"Well that just means the tour will take even longer this time." By now we had awkwardly shuffled our way to the bedroom. "I thought you said you enjoyed our time together last visit?"

"Yeah…I guess I did say that didn't I?"

I'm in so far over my head.

 **A/N: So…school's starting again which I am extremely sad about because it's seriously going to cut into my Bloodborne/Overwatch time. After hearing all the hype since it's release, I finally gave in and holy crap is that game a ton of fun. I've been playing a bit of everybody since I kind of feel like that's the point of the game since it's really not that deep, but my faves (which I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seat, just dying to know) are: Soldier 76, Tracer, Junkrat, Reinhardt, Roadhog and Zenyatta. Also, just a sidenote to every guy who spams the chat with, "we need a healer," but refuses to switch because he's a Reaper/Genji main (yes it's always one of those two characters) all of you can go straight to the fiery pit. The only people that are almost as bad as you are the ones who sit directly in front of my shield when I'm playing Rienhardt. And if you're reading this and are either one of those people…may God have mercy on your soul because I sure won't. Anyways, I feel much better now that I've aired my grievances to the public so to end it on a good note, I'm still sticking to my update schedule of every other Friday, school will not disrupt that one bit.**

 **An extra special shout-out goes to the insomnia that plagued my Beta Ranger Station Charlie last night, I emailed the poor guy at about ten last night asking him to proofread this chapter and he came through in the fucking clutch so once again, thanks for saving my ass buddy. It is solely because of him that this chapter is actually out on time.**

 **Review Answering Portion:**

 **GJD: Glad you liked it man, thanks for dropping the review!**

 **Dekuton: I'm with you as far as limiting yourself goes for sure, in the game it makes sense because there has to be hard and fast rules but in this, I can play around with it and just do what makes the most sense. Appreciate the feedback on the professionalism too, I'll try to clean that up going forward. Even if Wolf mouths off quite a bit, I'm pretty sure he's never gone against a direct order from a superior as far as I can remember so it's kind of a reverse, "do as I do, not as I say," thing with him but I might take it too far sometimes so it's good to hear an outside opinion.**


	10. Aim for the Moon

"Nate what the hell took so…oh." At seeing my disheveled state of affairs, Mitch started chuckling to himself very slowly, picking up momentum as he went along. Ashley just kinda stared at Miranda who, while still looking a bit ruffled was much more cleaned up looking than I was, her expression seemingly caught between shock and a sort of pity for the woman, which I did not appreciate at all. I'm not **that** bad looking, especially when you take into account the scars I've got to overcome.

Liara meanwhile, just looked a bit confused. "I am afraid I do not understand what is going on here. Did your business deal go well Nathan?"

"It did, thanks Liara." I smiled at the asari sheepishly as I tried to fix my tousled stripe of hair that was **supposed** to run down the center of my head. Right now it had a bit of a lean to it that was the end result of what had just went down, so to speak.

As Miranda touched my shoulder and made her way out, mouthing, "I'll be in touch," as she exited, Ashley kicked the proverbial door in. "For God's sake." She covered her face with her hand and sighed exasperatedly. "They had sex T'Soni." As the maiden finally understood what had happened, a violet blush spread across her cheeks. "See how his face is still all red, plus his hair right there is pretty messed up and tousled?" She nodded and began to analyze me as if I was some newfound archeological find. "Those are all telltale signs that one of us humans has been getting busy."

"I see."

Since Mitch was still too busy laughing to himself to take control of the situation, I decided it was up to me. "So uh, did Daxy set you up with everything you need Liara?"

"Yes." She stared at her newfound armor. An interlocked pattern of black, grey and white spattered camo that I easily recognized from the pattern as Titan armor, probably of the light variety considering the asari's lithe build. "Your co-workers were extremely knowledgeable and helped a great deal in helping me select armor and weapons with which to defend myself."

"Good. I'm glad to see they haven't completely lost their touch since I left the place." I turned to the blonde and slugged him in the shoulder. "You done having fun at my expense short stuff or can we get a move on now?"

"I'm sorry, I just completely was not expecting you to be that uh…successful with your business ventures." He slammed his fist right into my chest, not realizing that my jacket was lightly plated thanks to Daxy's perfect work. "Shit Wolf, I didn't realize you were still so paranoid. You're with one N7 Infiltrator, an Alliance Marine and a powerful biotic, what do you even have to worry about?"

"Oh you know, just stuff like the fact that I still have a million or so credit price tag on my head after what happened back on Torfan? It's either this or keeping my Barriers up at all times so you can take your pick of the two buddy." I gave a quick, heartfelt goodbye to my two housemates before rejoining my team. "I'm pretty sure there's some saying about your greatest strength being just a hair away from your greatest weakness so practicality and paranoia are just part of the total package when it comes to dealing with me."

"Fair enough." He indicated for me to lead the way. "You take point and watch for any danger then since I know you're going to anyway."

"Roger roger First Lieutenant Woley, former Service Chief Nathaniel Wolfert taking the point!"

I stepped outside the armory only to stop dead in my tracks. "What's the problem Wolf?"

"I uh, I don't have any clue where we're going."

"I hate you Wolf." The sniper sighed and covered his face. "Just go back to the Normandy alright?"

As the four of us made the trek back to rejoin the team, I discreetly did a quick search for the term, "Dolos," just to satisfy my own curiosity. It only took a few seconds for me to do a quick little read of the page and rip the most important info out, those multi-page mission debriefings tend to make a person good at that, and when I did I chuckled a little bit to myself. It shouldn't have surprised me considering it was Cerberus I was dealing with here, but apparently Dolos was some sort of Greek mythological figure who was the personification of trickery and guile which fit my situation quite nicely. Oh and he was also a child of Nyx which probably made her chuckle a bit to herself when she picked it.

Well, it looks like Miranda or Nyx or whatever she wants to be called does have a bit of a sense of humor. A rather dry, biting one but still, I could see that she didn't just pick my alias at random.

I quickly typed out a message to my Cerberus supervisor. _"Just looked up my codename…how much time did you waste trying to find a random-ass figure that fit the situation so perfectly?"_

It only took a few seconds for a ding that signified I had a new message to sound and I probably should have figured but she didn't even really answer my question. _"I figured you'd like it. It fits in a rather ironic way doesn't it?"_

After that I didn't even bother responding, I just let the orange glow fade away and sighed loudly as I worked my way back to the ship. Once again, that woman is a lot more than I can handle.

 **LINE BREAK**

"Alrighty." Chelsea looked around the circular meeting room from her standing position. "Looks like everyone's here so let's get this boring official shit out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff." She took a seat and gestured to her younger twin. "That's your cue bro. Make it quick because I really need to get down there and test out my new toys."

"Thanks…lieutenant commander." I could just see him trying to hold in the frustration right now. "We received word from Admiral Hackett that a VI in charge of a training facility on Luna went rogue and is now attacking anything that moves with the army of drones that it now has under its control. Our job is to go down there and stop it."

From my heavily reclined position, I raised a hand slightly before speaking anyway. "I'm assuming this is standard Alliance protocol? Get in there and wreck shop but make sure not to completely destroy the thing itself so all those taxpayer credits and research hours don't go to waste?"

"Usually you'd be correct Wolf but this time things are different, they just want it destroyed." Well that makes it much easier. "However, there is a complication."

Ashley grunted. "When is there not?"

I just smiled at that undeniable truth as the Lion of Elysium continued. "There are two separate conduits under the program's control and they will both need to be disabled before we can move to the VI core itself and deactivate it completely."

"Which means that we'll have to split up into teams of three, cut off its external power sources and then join back together to crush it for good." If there was a face of immediate regret, Caleb wore it now as his sister talked. "We'll be taking the Mako down first and after that, we'll divide our forces."

"I will be sitting this one out and coordinating things from the Normandy so team one will be led by my sister and she'll be taking Tali and Wrex, the other will be under the command of Gunnery Chief Williams and under her will be Mr. Vakarian and Wolfert."

Oh fuck me. I leaned over to Chelsea and whispered. "Well at least not everyone on the ground team hates me. That's a plus."

"Yeah you're right," she threw a quick little grin, "I don't think Tali and Wrex dislike you all that much."

"Oh wow, that's a good one Chelsea."

I shook my head as I focused back on the commander who looked like he was wrapping things up. "…Chelsea's team will drop the other first before heading to control node two which means that the first team will most likely have quite a bit of waiting on their hands." Fucking swell. Not only do I get paired up with the two members of the crew that hate my guts but now I've gotta wait around and chit-chat with them about God knows what for who even knows how long. The only thing that could make this worse is if Cerberus leaves another message for me…and I probably just jinxed myself. "Once both nodes are disabled, Mako team will return to node one and pick you three back up and from there you will assault the main control cluster together. If this VI was clever enough to overturn whatever safety systems they had in place then I'm guessing it also has enough programming to protect the main hub with some extreme defenses which is why we're trying to cut off its power supply flow before moving in for the kill."

As the commander took a seat in the empty chair behind him, Chelsea looked around at everyone in the room. "Anybody have any questions?" Without even waiting for a response she slammed the door shut. "No? Good. We will be exiting via Mako at zero five-hundred so for the five of you coming down with me, be ready." Which gives me just over twenty minutes to run a final check on everything which was more than enough time. "Dismissed!"

Getting up from my seat, I gave a leisurely yawn as I made my way down to the armory with the rest of the team. Well, that was my intention at least. "Wolf hold up." The voice of Caleb Shepard interrupted my attempted exit. "We need to talk in private."

I looked over to Chelsea for help but the door was already closing behind her, the last thing I ended up seeing from the female Spectre was a wink. "Can't believe she'd betray me like that." I mumbled to myself as I took a seat across from my boss while trying to look casual, which was rather hard when my mind was just screaming over and over, "he knows about Cerberus!" "What's going on Shepard?"

"I hate asking for help since I know you're no longer Alliance but I need you to do something for me, or at least try."

"Yeah sure, I mean I'll do my best."

Now I was more confused than anything else, I have legitimately no clue what he needs. "It's about the chief. Now I know you two haven't exactly...seen eye to eye."

I held my hands up. "Hey it's tough to be friendly with someone when-"

"This isn't about placing blame right now, this is about combat effectiveness as a team." He swiftly cut down my attempt at putting the blame on her. "Right now Williams is suffering from a severe lack of confidence due to what happened to her platoon back on Eden Prime. She's hesitating and with as slim a margin of error as we operate on, that's unacceptable."

Now it makes sense. "So you're trying to give her a little shot in the arm by putting her as team leader on a mission that is not quite as dangerous as some other ones that are most likely coming in the future."

The blonde man nodded. "That's also why I'm isolating her with two of my squad members in you and Garrus who I know I can count on to get the job done while also letting her feel like this is something she's doing on her own."

"Which is also why you're not coming down…"

"Correct. As I said, she needs to feel like this is something she's accomplishing without somebody like me looking over her shoulder." He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "What she doesn't need to know is that I'll be sitting just overhead, ready to join in if anything goes wrong. Can I count on you to make sure I don't need to do that?"

I gave a cheeky little salute. "You can count on me commander. We got this shit locked down."

"That's what I like to hear." He gave a little sigh and covered his face.

"Trouble in paradise sir?" A teasing grin crossed my face.

His hand dropped and his mouth tugged upwards ever so slightly, making the harshness of his words pretty much disappear. "Just get out of here and get suited up Wolfert, I have nowhere near the amount of patience verbally sparring with you requires."

"Bummer, just let me know if you change your mind." With that out of the way, I took the elevator down to rejoin the rest of the team. As soon as the doors opened, I scanned the room, looking for a certain raven-haired Marine. "Hey chief!" I gave her a little nod. "We're gonna kill it down there alright? Garrus has got your back and I've got your front so there's not a damn thing to worry about. We'll kick some ass, disable this computer and be back in time for breakfast."

She actually perked up considerably at that. Good. "Roger that Wolfert."

I walked leisurely back to my room, quickly changing into the tight fitting Alliance PT gear I wore under my armor. Letting loose a sigh as I saw another datapad in the same spot as before, I pulled it out and let the ID scanner go to work. "My big fucking mouth."

It only took a second for me to read the contents but basically Cerberus wanted me to make sure that I salvaged some data from the VI conduits before they were destroyed by my Alliance cohorts. If I was successful in that I would apparently be receiving some kind of prototype armor modification they called, "eezo vision," which would allow me to trace the element's flow in a body along with a few credits just for good measure. Along with that there was a brief article that I skimmed about how an Alliance-tied doctor by the last name Perri had been released from custody thanks to a certain oversight on the part of the people bringing him in which brought me a pretty big smile I'm not gonna lie. Guess this whole thing hasn't been for nothing then.

Still though, I'm not quite sure why a VI would be worth all this trouble but I really didn't see the harm in doing this one for Cerberus either. Plus if I do manage to pull this off, I'll actually be more valuable to my team thanks to the improvement in my equipment. So **technically** this could be looked at as me helping the Alliance still…shit I can't even convince myself on that one. Anyways, it definitely won't actively harm the team so I still don't mind doing it all that much. Seems like Miranda's just easing me into the whole, "somewhat unwilling double agent," thing which is clever on her part. If she went with something big right off the bat there's no way I'd actually do it and she'd lose an asset needlessly. I'll just have to be careful that I don't get dragged in too deeply to and pull one of those, "becoming the mask," things you always hear about when it comes to people in situations like mine.

With that whole mess temporarily out of the way it was time to suit up which required me going into the armory. Chelsea, who was already in her full gear and seemed to be testing out the rebreather functions on her armor as I walked in, folded back her visor and gave a smirking wolf whistle, no pun intended, at the miniscule amount of clothing I was wearing.

"Hey hey, I'm more than just a piece of meat commander!" I laughed loudly as I grabbed the chitinesque gear that went under my Cerberus-provided armor and started to step into it. "You mind helping me seal up the back of this thing?"

"I'd be happy to." She whistled cheerfully as she stepped closer and then performed the necessary function. "Just what is this stuff made out of anyway Wolf? I've never seen anything quite like it."

Well, I've gotta lie my ass off right now. So begins the career of Double Agent, Nathaniel Wolfert. "I actually don't quite know." That was the truth at least. "It's a little something Daxy whipped up for me when he heard I signed back up with the Alliance. When I asked him about it he just shrugged it off as some deep dark Cabal secret and left it at that. Since he was nice enough to throw something together like this for me without even being asked to, I didn't really bug him about the details."

"Huh." She continued to prod the gear that looked eerily reminiscent of an insect exoskeleton. "I'll have to meet him next time we're back on the Citadel. Maybe I can talk it out of him." With the impromptu inspection seemingly out of her system, temporarily at least, she turned to the other four members that would be joining us on the ground. "Everybody check your weapons, omni-tools, and triple chick your damn rebreathers. If you're wearing something other than the standard-issue helmet like our resident genius Wolfert who doesn't even bother wearing anything other than a mask, that goes double for you which equals six total checks for those of you who are bad with math."

"What?" I just shrugged off the looks and laughs that was coming from everybody else. "Helmets are uncomfortable and for the record, it's called a, 'Recon Hood.'"

"Alright then smartass, have it your way." She grabbed the item in question and threw it at me as she continued to give the final talks before we shoved off. "Anyway, like I was saying make sure you check your **headwear** of choice. The last thing we need is for one of you to die before we even start getting shot at." The six of us were now just about ready to step into the vehicular deathtrap colloquially known as the M35 Mako. With just about everything else out of the way, she switched over to our team channel and her voice crackled in my ear. "Everyone good?"

I checked oxygen readings, shield status, weapon synchronizations, bio-amp levels and everything else under the sun before giving a thumbs-up to the woman along with an enthusiastic shout of affirmation. Ever since the last time I had gone down on that positively beautiful tropical paradise known as Therum, I had made sure that if I could at all avoid it, I would never freedrop in that fucking thing again and now I was going to enact my plan. As we piled into the vehicle, the final straw was being stuck between Wrex and Garrus. That made my question that much easier.

"Joker, open the doors, we are ready to roll."

The voice of the pilot blared over the loudspeaker. "Right away Sarah Connor, good luck taking down Skynet."

What the fuck is he talking about? "Thanks Joker, you just sit tight in that chair and do what you always do."

A sarcastic laugh answered right back. "If only you were as good at shooting things as you are at making fun of cripples."

Sirens blared as the ramp opened, indicating that the hanger was no longer a safe place…although at that point it was pretty much too late for anybody who was savvy enough to decide to ignore the ancient memo regarding what was about to happen. "I'll take that as a compliment, just watch my helmet cam right along with little bro up there and you'll see why. As long as you're not too busy watching your **other** videos of course."

"I'm sorry commander, you're breaking up. I couldn't hear you."

Seizing my chance, I grabbed the shoulder of the commander and held up a finger as I stared into the orange slits that glowed from her Tyriel Advanced Communications Corporations produced Death Mask. "Question I've gotta ask you on the private chat Chelsea."

The blonde woman turned to survey the rest of the team before giving a slight nod. "Listen if this is about the fact that bro and me stuck the only three people who seem to be actively not getting along on the same team, that was completely intentional so don't even think about asking to be assigned elsewhere."

"No no, that's not the issue at all. I'm a professional, I can deal with it." She cocked her head and even through the intimidating piece of equipment that covered her face, I could pretty much sense the amused question of, "are you really?" that was coming from her. "I don't do well with motion sickness so all I'm asking is if I can do a biotically-assisted freefall instead of falling down there in…that." I just pointed at the object of my disgust.

"Nope." In the blink of an eye, she had lifted my arm and slammed her fist into the lightest part of the armor. "And that's for complaining."

I rubbed my side where she had just smashed her fist into it. So much for that plan. "Shiiiiiiit. How do you manage to make punches hurt no matter how much gear I'm wearing?"

"Practice Wolf. Lots and lots of practice."

"Damn...I feel sorry for Caleb all of the sudden." I couldn't help but state the first thought that came to mind, as so often happened to me my mouth moved faster than my brain could stop it.

Before I knew what was happening she had grabbed me by the nape of my armor, practically dragging me back to the vehicle and tossing me into the back seat. "Now sit tight and shut up. Oh and try not to throw up either Wolf, okay? Garrus just got this thing all nice and tidied up after Therum so I'd hate for anything to happen to it."

"Roger that commander! I'll hold back the enemy vomit to the last man!" Adjusting myself in my seat, I felt all the energy leave my body as I resigned myself to my fate. "If this is how I die, I just want you all to know...I stole one of the corporal's power bars when he wasn't looking."

My designated fireteam leader just reached into a compartment of her armor with a sigh. "Grab this and chew it. It's a pill designed to combat nausea, I always take one before going into situations like this."

"Thanks chief." I held up the pill as I tried to ignore the fact that we were rolling out of the Normandy. "I owe ya one."

Closing my eyes and leaning back, I slipped the chewable under my mask before resealing it and then just leaned back. It felt like an eternity but the sound of the jets activating was one of the most welcome noises I had ever heard. "Thank God."

Chelsea whirled backwards to face the entire team. "We're dropping Ashley's team off at node one and then Wrex and Tali will be going with me to wreck shop at the second one." She whipped her head around to Garrus who was manning the weapons system at the moment, which also meant she was not currently looking ahead of us. "Garrus, fire off a round."

"I'm sorry Shepard, could you repeat that?" The turian voiced what I was feeling, which was mainly confusion.

"Test the cannon. Fire. Off. A round."

"But ma'am, I made sure to calibrate everything. There's no way that it's not going to work."

"Vakarian I swear to the Spirits or whatever it is you believe in-" A booming shot came from the main weapon. "Ahhh, there it is. I always like to put the fear in them a little bit, let 'em know we mean business."

Wrex gave a satisfied grunt while Ashley cocked her head in a confused manner. "With all due respect Chelsea, it's a VI with a bunch of machines guarding it. I'm not sure that it can feel fear."

"Don't worry yourself with the details Gunny." Chelsea was not put off one bit by her statement. "When you're an N7 you'll understand."

Ashley looked at me curiously since I was the only other attendee of The Villa present but I just shook my head from side to side, answering her unstated question. "That's kinda what I figured but I wanted to make sure."

While Chelsea drove, "Garry," as she had already labeled him manned the gun and Tali played navigator up front, the back seat was pretty much dead silent. Ashley didn't like and me Wrex was…Wrex for lack of a better way to describe it so I simply kicked back, taking in the extremely boring scenery that was the moon. There's only so much space rock you can look at before it all looks the same and that goes for Luna too. If this was a couple hundred some years ago it might have been a big deal but by now, it was kind of old hat.

"So Wolf, I'm kinda curious." I don't know if she sensed the awkwardness coming from the backseat or just couldn't take the silence but Chelsea finally broke the awkwardness that reigned. Although that didn't really make me any more comfortable in actuality since I'd kinda rather have her actually focusing on the task at hand. I just hope driving skill isn't something that runs in the family. "What does a somewhat controversial figure like yourself do after leaving your military career in the past, temporarily at least." Well. She doesn't really pull punches. "I'm just really wondering what it's like to live a civvy life after all the fighting you've gone through."

Hah. Of all the times to get grilled about what I've been up to in the last two years it's in the back of this motherfucking contraption straight from hell. I quickly decided to go with a cliffnotes version of the truth, leaving out certain more sensitive details that I didn't want to share right now. "Oh you know, just embody the good old North American dream. Settle down with your pregnant fiance, watch her and your adoptive father get gunned down by a gang while you're powerless to stop them, then go join a bounty hunting guild on the Citadel. That way you can make sure that you ignore all the guilt by using your talents to track down hardened criminals and beat the shit out of- I mean, bring them to justice!" Looking down at my hands, I noticed that they were clenched tightly and a bright aura was emanating from them. Shit…I've gotta cool down a bit. Fuckin' hell but that drew a lot more out of me than I meant it to, I guess Chelsea's not the only one who can be forcefully blunt when the situation calls for it. "My bad guys. Got a little carried away there in the moment."

"Shit...well you certainly know how to kill the mood real quick there don't you? Way to go Wolfy, I was just getting amped up for this thing too before you went into your morbid backstory."

"Don't look at me, you asked."

I didn't see the rest of the crew's reactions to my statement since I was intently scrutinizing the floor from behind the safety of my face-concealing Recon Hood but I could guess what was coming from each of them just based on who they were. I'm guessing Wrex didn't really give too much of a shit, Garrus and Ash probably just thought I was even more of a loose cannon now and Tali just probably felt bad for me because she seemed way too nice like that. The Sheps though I wasn't sure about since the commander just stayed quiet on the line and Chelsea I hadn't really gotten a read on as to how she felt about me since she was about as unpredictable as me which bugged me. Now I know how other people feel for once since the shoe's on the other foot here.

The group breathed a sort of collective, "thank you," I think as the structure that housed the first hub came into view and with it a group of defense turrets. "Tali, monitor shield levels! Garry, blast those fuckers into scrap! The rest of you just sit tight and enjoy the fireworks."

You know, if I was up in the ship I just may have enjoyed the intricately frenzied dance that was being performed by the driving skills of Chelsea Shepard but on the ground where I was subject to all the jostling, bumping and nasty looks from a certain space Marine that came with it, I would have passed given the opportunity. Thankfully we were never really in any danger, even if I wouldn't have minded fighting them on foot, and the emplacements were eradicated in short order.

Chelsea yanked the handbrake, performing a complete one-eighty as we arrived at the entrance. As the three of us piled out, she gave a final few words. "Good work team but I believe this is where we part ways for the time being." Chelsea focused her look on Williams, the fireteam leader. "Remember, no matter what happens you lock it down and hold tight here and if I hear that you two," she jabbed a finger at Vakarian and me, preemptively chastising as if we were kids being left with the babysitter or something, "cause any trouble for the chief here…Wolf how's that ribcage doing?"

"Don't ask." I don't know how she did it but I'm pretty sure I was bruised to hell and back somehow, my armor had taken hits from various firearms that hurt me less afterwards.

We all pulled out our weapons of choice, Williams with the Alliance standard Lancer, the former cop with his Mantis and me my trusty old M11 before heading down into the facility that apparently housed this thing. "What's our lineup here chief?"

"Right." Thankfully now that we were getting into the actual thick of things, I think we'll be fine. If I'm the least professional one here then we'll be ok in terms of getting shit done without killing each other in the process. "Wolfert, you take point and I'll be right behind you. Vakarian, you trail behind us and play overwatch with that sniper of yours. I'll call out bio and tech attacks as necessary but I don't want you two going overboard right off the bat if it's not necessary."

"Roger that." With the latest order coming in, I tucked the pistol on my hip and pulled out my semi-automatic rifle. Since Williams had a weapon with such a high rate of fire, I figured this would complement it nicely to pick up some kill shots after she had stripped the shields off these things. "Just let me know once you want me to break out the goodies."

"You seem to enjoy phrasing things in the strangest way possible don't you Wolfert?" Garrus shook his helmeted head from behind his sniper rifle. "Unless that's just a human thing?"

"No." Williams signaled and us two frontliners stacked up on the door while Garrus set up on a crate a little way back. "It's definitely just him."

"Team Williams can you hear me?" Caleb Shepard's voice rang in my ears.

"Gunnery Chief Williams here, you're coming in loud and clear."

"Good. I've pulled up the schematics of these underground hubs and I'm guessing from this layout you'll meet significant resistance once you open this door. This seems to be the largest room in the place and after this you'll be just a hallway away from the core you need to shut down so if this thing is going to try and stop you this would be the time."

"Understood sir." She nodded to the two of us and I gripped my rifle a little tighter, getting ready for the fight that was coming any moment. "Team Williams is breaching in three…two…one…"

She signaled me and I slammed my closed fist into the button that opened the door. Just ten feet in front of us was a LOKI mech that stared at us for a brief second before raising a pistol.

"Open fire!"

In a split-second all three of our weapons roared to life, Williams instantly stripping its cheap shields with an accurate burst from her weapon which let me plug away with shots to the torso that quickly disabled the thing. "Watch out!" I screamed as airborne drones firing bursts from small turrets along with a few rockets flew towards us.

It took just a second for me to pull Williams into cover next to me as the din of battle now surrounded us. "Wolfert can you do that wall thing?"

"You mean my Bio-cade?" I grinned at the woman from behind my mask, quickly tucking away my rifle and bringing out my sidearm.

"Yeah whatever, just can you do it?" She popped out from the metal barricade and brought down an enemy that had got a little too close with a spray of bullets.

"Of course, you don't get to be an N7 by not being able to come through when it counts. Here we go ladies and gents, just try not to let them circle me alright?" I rolled out into the middle of the large rectangular room and as all gunfire shifted towards me, I thrust both arms forward. "Bio-cade coming right up!"

I just laughed inwardly as the poor programming of the machines caused them to completely ignore my teammates as they ripped through them with a deadly storm of bullets, Overloads and Ashley even throwing a couple incendiary grenades for good measure. However, my humor was short-lived as a couple rockets crashed into my barricade, causing it to disappear like shattered glass. "Fuck!" I dived behind a nearby crate, wincing as an explosion shook my hastily chosen hiding spot.

"Do they teach you that in N school too?" Williams just couldn't help poking at my misfortune.

I however was not in much of a mood to joke around. "They at least teach you to prioritize the targets shooting at you with **fucking rockets!** " Unleashing half a dozen shots in rapid succession, I blasted a LOKI mech before blowing its head clean off with a highly-concentrated Throw orb.

As I started to advance once again, I was quickly stopped when the mech exploded in an orange display of light and flames. "Alrighty then."

"Watch out Williams." Garrus warned in a flanging tone. "Apparently these bots explode once you take out the head. One almost got Wolfert."

"Understood, go for body shots if possible and shout it over the comms if you do take out the head. Grenade out!" She screamed a non-sequitur as so often happened in battle before returning to what she was saying in a calm tone of voice. "I don't want anyone injured because one of these faulty things exploded when we weren't paying attention."

Both Garrus and I gave a quick verbal assent before returning to what we were doing. By now their numbers were thankfully dwindling and only one or two of the pesky missile firing ones remained. A loud boom signaled the end of one and the chief brought down the other, leaving only a dozen or so of the flying pests.

"Wolfert, break cover and start doing your thing."

I mentally cleared my ears. Is Williams seriously giving me free reign to fly around? "Could you repeat that order chief?"

She sounded incredibly strained, as if it was painful to let this happen. "You heard me. Get up close with your Charge and start blasting these things to hell. Between the two of us, we'll make sure that nothing sneaks up behind you."

"I've got you covered Wolfert." Garrus added his two cents and with a pleased sigh, I sprung forward into the fray.

Using my semi-automatic N7 Piranha, I fired three blasts that downed a drone before using a Pull to lower one towards me and then finishing that with another spray from my weapon. With the two close threats neutralized, I flew across the room, grabbing one in both of my hands as I came out of the Charge and practically disintegrating it with a single Palm Crush.

With the targets directly around me neutralized, I turned to see Ashley lay down a burst of accurate fire that eliminated the shields of a drone before Garrus blasted it straight through with a single bullet. In what was the mark of a confident sniper, the turian didn't stop to admire his kill, just panning right to the final pest in the room. One more shot rang through the base and then the only thing that could be heard was the electrical spasms of the robots we had just eliminated.

"I think we're clear chief." Now that the firefight was done and the adrenaline died down a bit, the unbearable stench of death that I was all too familiar with hit me like a speeding skybus. Around a lot of the more technical looking equipment, a bunch of engineers in various Alliance gear were lying in pools of blood. A few Marines in protective gear were near them but it looked like they were targeted first by the machines as they didn't even have time to draw their weapons before they were gunned down. Whatever went wrong happened quick, the poor bastards just doing their jobs never even had a chance.

"Gunnery Chief Williams, I suggest we find the core and plant the explosives." I gave a nod to Vakarian, hoping he would pick up on the fact that letting the soldier who had seen her entire platoon massacred by robots in the recent past dwell on another tragedy would not be advantageous.

Thankfully, he gave the slightest nod and carried forward, tucking his sniper and pulling out his turian made assault rifle. "According to the map, there should be a hallway on the other side of this door that takes us right to the site we need to plant the explosives."

"Roger that." She shook her helmeted head vigorously and pointed in my general direction. "I'm pretty sure that's the last of the VI's defenses but just in case, you take point." It only took a few moments for us to clear the rest of the facility and just like Williams said, that was all that the VI had to throw at us for now. "Wolfert, I'm going to raise Chelsea on the comms, go ahead and plant the charges while we wait out here."

"No sense in us all getting blown up at once eh? Especially since it's been…" At seeing the expressions on their face, I decided to stop with that train of thought. As they left the room I mumbled to myself. "Well you know what they say about explosives, it's just like riding a bike, right?"

As I strapped the device to the core, I studied the thing intently, realizing that this was as good a time as any to study where I could procure the data for Cerberus. If I could only rip it from one of the side conduits, this would be much easier. Also, the fact that everything I can see is being monitored by the eye of Commander Shepard doesn't help one bit.

Stepping away from the equipment that was now ready to be blown sky-high, I joined my two teammates, musing about how exactly I was going to pull off this caper. My thoughts were interrupted by the displeased voice of my squad leader. "They're just getting to the second base now."

"Sweet!" I gave a sarcastic thumbs-up. On the plus side at least I'll have plenty of time to strategize about how I was going to do this without being spotted. "So can I at least blow this thing so I get a little bit of joy in the middle of all this damn waiting?"

"Knock yourself out Wolf."

Ashley's rolling eyes could be seen even through the helmet's visor but that didn't deter me one bit. "Fucking sweet! Here comes the boom ladies and gents…"

 **A/N: So school's a thing. A thing I really wish was over. Working 12 hour days is something I can deal with no problem but college life is just so ridiculously tedious. On the positive side…there's Overwatch, the people I'm sitting next to in my classes aren't assholes and I just finished Gurren Lagann which is probably one of my favorite anime now.**

 **Also, thanks to everybody who keeps consistently reviewing. Because of how my brain works I equate, "less reviews," to, "story is sucking worse than usual," and the fact that this one has already hit over 50 reviews in less than half the chapters it took for the first book is really encouraging. So again, thanks to you guys out there who keep taking time out of your day and jotting down a few words, it means a lot.**

 **Shout-out once again goes to my man Ranger Station Charlie for still keeping up with Beta'ing and doing a kickass job of it.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Dekuton: Thanks for the nice words man, that sort of duality of Miranda's personality is definitely something I've tried to highlight so I'm glad it came through.**

 **GJD: Appreciate the feedback, although I will say that Wolf's kind of always been a bit of a tool so I'm not sure if that's going to change, lol.**

 **RSC: Yeah the vision definitely added a more personal touch to Wolf being on the Normandy, as he has his own added reasons to work with the team so that was definitely an awesome suggestion on your part, really brought it together.**

 **The ripple effect is definitely how I see Wolf's impact, which really started on Torfan I guess. It'll be fun to watch and craft it as this thing starts to widen out more and more as he continues to get involved.**

 **Stormdragon981: Hey anything is possible, I haven't written that far ahead at all so any suggestions will definitely be taken into consideration when it comes to future events.**

 **Fallout Fan: In pure biotic killing capability Wolf would probably fall a bit short compared to Shep but when you take everything else that he's skilled with into account, it'd end up pretty close in the end. The two are kind of the different ends of the spectrum with Caleb showcasing more biotic precision whereas Wolf relies more on raw power. And yeah, I won't spoil anything but I'm debating in my mind and brainstorming with my beta on how that whole thing should go down. Wish us luck, lol.**

 **Yup, that quote definitely is pretty fitting when it comes to Wolf, he's got his fair share of issues to deal with. Same here when it comes to Miranda, ME2 was my first Mass Effect game since I was a PS3 owner as well so Lawson has a special spot when it comes to the potential squadmates.**


	11. What Does the A Stand For?

"Holy crap what took you guys so long?"

Chelsea stepped out from the Mako and greeted the three of us who had spent the last half-hour in an awkward silence with a friendly slap to the back of my head in particular. "I dunno Wolf, it's almost like we had to drive across the fricking moon to fight a rogue VI's army of mechs and drones."

"Shit Chels." I rubbed the rear portion of my skull with a wince. "Could you maybe punch me in the armor next time? That hurts a lot less." Popping up from my seated position, I joined the rest of the Normandy ground crew as we piled back into the Mako. "I just hate waiting. Plus, the company could be better too…although I'm sure they'd say about the same thing."

To give them credit, Ashley and Garrus didn't bother taking my extremely obvious bait and instead gave a little shrug that more or less just meant yes. "Awww, I'm so sorry to hear that Wolfy missed his commanding officer." Chelsea teased as she went from nothing to full throttle on the Mako, not even bothering with the whole concept of gradual acceleration.

"Technically I'm pretty sure Caleb's our CO…just throwing that out there."

"Yeah I hate to agree with Ashley but I'm pretty sure he's the lead on this."

Caleb chose that moment to jump in over the channel as he watched from his sky perch in the Normandy. "That's because I am."

"Well it's too bad you're not here then isn't it?" She made a pleased little sound at the put-down of her younger twin. "And now that we're all back together like one big happy family, we can go blow up this last core!"

"Gee I really hope there's more rocket drones to deal with! It's just such a joy holding up a Bio-Cade under the brunt of those things."

"Quit complaining Wolf." Shockingly, it was the quarian who responded. "Weren't you just talking about how bored you've been?"

The team laughed at the seemingly shy quarian's put down and even Wrex gave a little chuckle of approval. "Heh. With everything that's happening, I'm starting to think better of you quarian. Not that that's saying much, your species is so squishy."

"I have a name, krogan."

That actually got a belly laugh from the massive red-plated alien. "I'm glad I decided to sign up for this. Might be fun after all."

"Speaking of fun." I recognized the edge in Chelsea's voice. "Hold onto your seats because we've got more turrets."

Great. This whole thing again. Well, at least I'll be able to add, "vomited on the moon," to my list of accomplishments. Or maybe that's a low.

 **LINE BREAK**

"Wrex. Wolf." Chelsea pointed to me and the krogan. It had taken a few minutes but we had taken out the defenses with little issue and were now ready to make the final push. "Stack up on the door. Wolf you'll be providing biotic support primarily so prep yourself for that."

"Roger." Now that we were finally in an atmosphere with oxygen, I took off my mask and downed a smoothie designed specifically to replace the nutrients used during biotics. I also think I now know how I'm going to steal this data…not quite sure why I didn't just think of taking off my mask earlier. That solves the whole issue of them watching through my hood's data feed.

"Wrex, you're going to be slamming them with biotics and shotguns so stick right behind Wolf."

"I'm a krogan. I don't need some human meatshield to absorb blows for me. I take the hit, kill them and regenerate after my enemies are crushed underfoot."

"Trust me Wrex, I'd much rather be behind you too buddy." I heaved a sigh. Why the hell did I ever come up with this stupid technique anyway? My skills just had to tailor towards being a movable wall.

Chelsea practically pounded her foot into the floor and I could feel her teeth grinding with how clenched they were. "Wolf will be going first. Wrex will be right behind him. Ashley and I will be on the flanks. In the very back will be Garrus and Tali. Are there any more questions about how this is going to go down?"

"None whatsoever." Chelsea scared me. I didn't mess around with women who scared me.

"Good. Fucking open this door then when you're ready."

"On three then?"

"Sure." I looked to Wrex who pulled out his shotgun. "Here's your chance Butcher. Don't disappoint me."

"Right. That's just what I need to hear." I heaved a sigh and pulled out my pistol. "One, two, three."

Once again, we piled into the following room and I immediately took center stage, throwing out a domed barrier that allowed the team to get into position behind solid cover. "Great." I muttered to myself as I sloppily dove back behind a pillar, heavy machine gun fire littering the floor where I just stood. "Hey Chels, they've got a fucking YMIR mech here."

"I picked up on that Wolf." She threw a handful of grenades that only slightly pestered the towering metal behemoth as it lumbered towards us.

Vakarian sarcastically chimed in on the comms. "I'll bet you wouldn't mind those rocket drones right about now huh Wolfert?"

"Good one Garrus." An explosion hit the back wall, missing my little hiding spot by just a few feet. There's the rocket drones making their appearance. "Hey how about you wish for like, an entire platoon of Marines or for all these fucking robots to just spontaneously combust next time?"

Swiveling out while commentating, I fired my weapon until it was almost overheated and then threw out a couple warps. From the corner of my eye I could see Tali launching a drone of her own that dipped in and out of the enemy ones, firing little bolts of electricity that arced through each one as it passed. Eventually it made its way over to the lumbering robot and began to pester it which made me chuckle despite the situation. It was like watching an elephant being harassed by a little fly, except in this case the animals were armed with weapons designed to kill in a half-second of course.

Thankfully, this opened up an opportunity for the rest of us and apparently Chelsea had the same idea. "Wrex, Wolf, I don't care what you do but work together to take down that big-ass mech right the fuck now. We'll make sure the rest of these things don't bother you."

I just barked out a quick nothing as Wrex responded, his words punctuated by blasts from his massive Claymore shotgun. "It's about time."

Charging out into the open, I was greeted by a LOKI mech that was caught in between the two of us who were now advancing. "Wrex, blast its head off."

Instead of the shotgun I was expecting, his fist glowed with a blue hue as he surged forward and literally knocked the thing's head off. Guess that works too. As the droid started to seize up, I focused mentally and picked it up with my biotics before hurling the ticking time bomb at the larger target in front of us. The timing was near perfect because as soon as the two made contact, a bright orange flame burst from the already damaged mech that engulfed the other in its intensity.

That actually earned a little chuckle from Wrex which made me sigh in relief. I was a bit worried about how he'd react to me giving an order as well as putting him in immediate danger but I guess I should have realized just who it was I was dealing with right now.

Speak of the devil, his deep, throaty voice rang out over the din of battle. "I'll finish this one off Wolf."

He surrounded himself in an intensely bright biotic aura and simultaneously yanked his fist backwards, pulling the now staggered YMIR mech towards him as he launched forward in a charge. As the two met in a clash of titans, to my immense shock, the bulky synthetic practically splintered from the force of the krogan's attack as it flew backwards into the wall and immediately deactivated. I guess the combined force of the pulling and pushing had a rather devastating effect.

I was practically slack jawed from the display, just letting my body run on the combat autopilot I'd become so familiar with as the member of Clan Urdnot just shrugged it off like it was no big deal since he followed it up by grabbing a shambling LOKI mech that had wandered too close and crushing it underneath his massive armored heel.

He must have sensed the adulation or something because as he fell back in line with me he gave a cocky little nudge. "Ever seen anything like that before?"

"Not in my life." I couldn't even bother playing up my own accomplishments as I gunned down a rocket drone with my Mattock. "I've done some tricks combining my Bio-Cade with a Charge but I've never accomplished anything quite to that level of destruction and force."

"Heh, it's a Battlemaster technique passed down for those worthy. We call it, 'Impactor.'" He playfully prodded me once again, which coming from a krogan was not so playful. "It's a lot trickier than it looks, some other whelps have tried it before fully grasping it…you can imagine the results."

"Yeah I think so Wrex." I turned to look back at the rest of the squad who had been systematically making their way up to join us in our now advanced position, making sure that we couldn't be flanked by some bot slipping in between. "Chels! You have any idea how many more of these things there's supposed to be? Not like I'm worried or anything but fuck, they must have had rooms of these things just piled up to the ceiling."

"You sound like you're complaining about a bit of target practice Wolf." As I stood behind cover and let my biotics recover a bit, I watched as she gunned down three or four drones with pinpoint shots from her machine gun before pulling out dual machine pistols, N7 Eagles if I remembered right, and hosing down another couple with akimbo fire. "How about we make this interesting and keep track?"

"I'm in." Wrex, Garrus and I all simultaneously answered without hesitation.

"I've got a tracker modded into my visor that keeps live kill counts, I can reset it right now if you'd like?" As if it was no big deal at all, he just kept firing away with his Mantis as he talked, each booming shot causing another drone to fall to the ground in a flash of bursting machinery.

"Winner gets to decide a punishment for the three losers?" I launched a Lift orb that caused another bipedal droid to slowly drift through the air before Ashley savagely downed it with a Carnage shot from her weapon.

"I can't let Chelsea be the only woman represented in this little competition."

With a slight sigh, Tali cut in. "You can include me I guess. I'm not going to be the only one left out."

"Perfect, it's all set then."

There was silence for a moment as all of us waited for Chelsea's official count. Thanks to the simplicities enforced by programming software, cutting down mechs was boring, monotonous work so this should be extremely promising. Thanks to their lack of tactical awareness, the enemy just slowly advanced almost in waves, making this practically target practice. The only real difficulty so far had been the giant one and even that was just thanks to the sheer firepower it brought into play, get caught in the crossfire and you'd be torn to shreds by its twin weapons or rocket launcher in a matter of a second or two. This however, was a turkey shoot in its purest form thanks to them being funneled right into our kill zone.

All of the sudden, Chelsea stood tall, hands filled with rather explosive looking weaponry. "Start it now!" As I shouted in protest, she threw out what had to be a half-dozen grenades that littered the battlefield and almost instantly she was in the lead, laughing the whole time. With a few button presses after that, her armor released an orange Newtonian fluid which immediately coated her entire armor. I recognized this specific piece of gear from back in The Villa, training with other Spec Ops candidates but it had been a little while since I'd seen it deployed in the field. It was a fortification module, assigned only to the heaviest of the heavies that the N school taught or a select few who had otherwise set themselves apart from their peers. "Move up team! We're bringing the fight to them now."

As she walked forward, machine gun spitting out bullets at an amazing rate, I vaulted my own cover along with Wrex and started going to work. Focusing on the grounded targets first since they made much easier prey, I zipped in and out, a flurry of knives, biotics and pistol shots. I was just preparing to sink the talon dagger I had received years ago from Daxy into the optic center of another droid when a bright sphere flew past me, blasting it with an overload that caused it to seize up and fall to the ground.

"I had that one, it was my fucking kill!" An accented giggle came over the comms. "That's no fair at all, that kill should not count towards Tali's number."

"Overruled," Chelsea blasted away again with her N7 Typhoon before tucking it onto her back and just punching the head off a droid that had wandered a bit too close. "Tali manufactured the drone so it counts as hers."

"Should have been faster Wolf…" The quarian trailed off in a teasing, sing-song voice.

"Tali I swear-" Running forward, I launched a throw orb at another droid that had wandered into my field of vision. Pulling out my shotgun, I prepared to blast the thing to pieces when instead it fell from a single hole that punctured its chest. From what I'd seen, only one person was that good with a sniper, although I wouldn't put it past Chelsea to be a crack shot considering how precise she is with everything else in her arsenal. "Garrus. You son of a bitch."

A distinctly turian chuckle sounded over the team channel and I exhaled sharply as in a flurry of motion, I Charged into a group of two droids, simultaneously blasting the first one apart with my N7 Piranha and then hitting the second with a Lift that floated it upward only to bring it back down to the ground with enough force to shatter it where it landed.

After letting off a bit of steam, I turned to see Ashley quickly fire three rounds from her semi-automatic sniper that practically blew the torso off a mech from the repeated sledgehammer blows before chucking a grenade that exploded with a fiery blast that consumed a couple flying drones with the flaming flechettes.

"I think that's all of them." My eyes were drawn to the elder Shepard who had one foot on the chest of a mech as she blasted it away with a burst from her Typhoon. "That's your cue to go on ahead and plant those charges Wolf. I trust you can handle a straggler or two if that rogue VI decided to keep a few in reserve but if you get overwhelmed we're just a shout away."

"Roger that Chelsea." I pulled out my pistol just in case, my mind ablaze with the sudden realization that the moment was now right in front of me. Sighing internally, I pulled off my Recon Hood, deactivated it and tucked it into a compartment on my armor before grabbing a power bar to snack on. Nothing like a good old biotic supplement to take the edge off a blatant act of treachery. "You guys don't work too hard out here while I'm in there setting up all the fun stuff."

The hazel-eyed woman with the massive amount of weaponry just grinned at me. "Of course. Just try not to blow yourself up Wolf. I'm not sure how much of you there'd be left if one of those things went off while you were still in the blast radius."

"Awww, it's heartwarming to know you care so much about my welfare." I smashed the button next to the door, making sure everything was in the clear, which it was besides a couple engineers who looked to have been cut down by machine gun fire from the machines that had been taken over by a haywire program. Poor bastards never had a chance. "I'm sure you'd be real disappointed if anything happened to damage this scarred old mug."

Giving a final grin that I really wasn't feeling at all, I headed down the hallway and towards the server room. Only one doorway stood in my way now and as I stepped into the room, I paused a moment, just taking in what I was about to do. "Fucking hell Wolf." I muttered to myself as I took out the memory stick that I had received from the unknown Cerberus operative aboard the ship. For a moment I just stared at it before plugging it into the mainframe before I could even change my mind. With a sharp, frustrated exhalation, I opened up my omni-tool, hit a quick few buttons that indicated I wanted to isolate the data and just waited as the information was ripped from the drive for me. Thanks to the practically automated hacking module Miranda had given me, the contents of the device were going to be there for the taking in a manner of just a few seconds.

Even though the wait wasn't that long, I couldn't help but look at the last recording that was sitting there, tantalizingly dated for just a few days ago. If I'd learned anything in my life, everything that ever went wrong in situations like this had its last moments recorded for people like me to wander in and watch. As I pulled off the explosives and started to attach them to various points on the mainframe, I let the video play on my omni-tool while I worked.

It started off typically enough, the scene was a techie-type with his omni-tool opened, speaking into his own wrist-mounted device. The video was actually fairly unremarkable, just some standard Alliance eggheads huddled around speaking technobabble as they screwed with the machine in front of me. However, when one of them mentioned the simple phrase, _"AI research,"_ my ears perked up quite a bit. Fucking hell, now I know why the Alliance wanted this whole thing destroyed with nothing recoverable and why Cerberus is so interested. This easy of a job could have been handled by a contingent of Marines extremely quickly but if this sensitive info somehow got out, humanity could face some nasty repercussions which means sending in a Spectre with an elite group of commandos to destroy what little evidence remained was the obvious answer since the fewer people that know, lessen the chances of this stuff leaking to the public. For the rest of the world this will just go down as a tragic training accident, I'll be one of just a few to know the real shit that went wrong.

With a quiet little ding, my omni-tool notified me that the information storing device had done its job. Guess that means that it's finally time to blow this garbage sky high and get the hell out of here before anything else goes wrong. As I pulled the device out of the hardware and tucked it into one of the most secure armor components I had, I couldn't help but think about how many people would kill for the information I now possessed. If I cared more about the actual game I was playing and wasn't just doing this because I was practically coerced into it, I would be ecstatic at the amount of power I just had in the palm of my hand. Thankfully for the rest of the galaxy, that type of supremacy didn't really appeal to me. I'm just happy being a ground-pounder who goes in, kicks the door down and goes back home at the end of the day knowing he did a fucking kick-ass job. Once I find a way to get Cerberus off my back once and for all, I'll be able to do so happily as long as no one I care about gets hurt in the process.

A loud yell interrupted my musings. "Wolfert!" I was wondering for a second why Chels didn't just signal me over the comms but then I remembered the rather simple fact that I had taken my mask which also coincidentally held my earpiece off. I guess it's really not harmful anymore though since my traitorous work is done, at least for the moment. "Am I gonna have to come in there and hold your hand as you go through, 'Explosives One-Oh-One,' all over again?"

"Hah!" Putting on a sense of bravado that I did not feel by any means, I strolled confidently out the server room door, finger held very far away from the detonate button. "I'd bet you'd like that wouldn't you? Just me, you and a whole bunch of explosives?"

"I'll just take the last one thank you very much." I faked a dejected sigh as I finally met up with the rest of the group, her voice no longer having to echo through the hallways to me.

"Well in that case." I offered up the holographic screen to her. "Would you like to do the honors my lady?"

She covered the visor of her helmet with both hands. "You'd really let me?" In the blink of an eye, she had wrenched my wrist around and practically dragged me out of the blast zone, signaling for the rest of the team to follow behind. "Jeez Wolf, you really do know just what to get a lady."

"Can we just finish this thing and get out of here Chelsea?"

I was about to retort to the turian but the female Shepard beat me to it, winking as she did so. "Aww I'm sorry Garrus, I'll make sure next time that you get to be the one I drag around."

"Th- that's not what I meant." The turian blanched at her proclamation which only made his blue streaks of paint stand out even more, causing me to laugh a bit at the sight.

Once we finally got to a safe distance, she whirled around and simultaneously smashed her finger into the blatantly marked, "detonate," button. Hey when it comes to stuff like explosives, the simpler the better in my book. The feeling of heat hit me almost instantly as flames shot out of the room I had just been occupying a few minutes ago along with a slight shudder that I could feel in my boots.

"We should probably keep moving." Tali voiced exactly what was on my mind. If Torfan taught me anything it's that explosives underground tend to cause things like the ceiling collapsing and trapping those unlucky enough to be caught in the blast, intentional or otherwise. Fucking hell that reminds me, I have to check in with Mitch to see if he's met up with the snarky Brit we used to be squadmates with, Talia Hawkeye. Poor girl was paralyzed from the waist down after sacrificing herself to make sure that Mitch and I got the job done and it's been way too long since we've talked.

"I agree." The gunnery chief seconded the young woman's suggestion. "Having needless casualties after a successful op like this would be a complete waste."

Wrex just grunted in…agreement? I hadn't been around him long enough yet to pick up on the various nuances of his different vocal rumblings but since that seemed to be the majority of what he said, I think I'm going to have to sooner or later so now's as good a time as any to start.

"Fine." The lieutenant commander groaned as she tore herself away from the sight of the orange-red inferno that had engulfed the hallways. "Team, make sure to grab anyone you can reasonably carry on your way out. These men and women deserve to at least be buried back where their family can properly mourn them."

Shit, I gotta say I wasn't expecting that from her. "I can use my biotics too Chelsea, probably carry an additional one or two that way along with slinging them over my shoulder."

"And I can carry a half-dozen of these poor whelps myself." Another surprise. I wasn't expecting Wrex to voluntarily pitch in either, seeing as how his species valued strength and power above all else. Guess there's a lot about my new squad that I'm going to have to learn as we go.

Holding down the rising sense of nausea, I picked up two women in Alliance gear whose blue uniforms were stained from the brutal robotic killing efficiency shown in repeated gunshot wounds in the chest and threw one over each shoulder. With a loud grunt, I activated my biotics and picked up another couple that were slumped over a piece of machinery. "I'm ready to get out of here when you are Chelsea."

She took in the sight of everyone weighed down with as much humanity as they could bear and gave a solemn nod. "Good work team. Let's get back home to the Normandy."

An important thought crossed my thought. "Wait. Wait wait wait. We forgot something."

The other five turned to look at me with Chelsea being the one to answer. "What's up?"

"Kill count."

The female Spectre hesitated for a moment and scratched her head. "Oh, right. That."

"Chelsea?" Tali cocked her head, picking up quite quickly on the pause from the woman.

"Well, it's just that." She muttered under her breath. "I had li'l bro look over everyone's feeds and tabulate kill counts from the moment we touched down since he insisted that we do it that way, factoring in set-ups as a half-point and…"

"I won right?" The most smug grin crossed my face. "Tell me I had the most bots taken down."

"We tied." Holy shit, you would have thought somebody had just kicked a baby in front of her or told her that a family pet had died. I've never seen the fucking spitfire of a human being that was Chelsea Shepard so gloomy.

"Hey, it's alright Chels. Just think of it this way." I sidled up and put my arm around her shoulder, consoling the downtrodden Special Forces agent. "You can blame it on the fact that your teammates were just that much more competent than mine and I simply had more targets to choose from."

"Hey!"

As Ashley's protests fell on my deaf ears, I just sighed happily. It's good to be back with a team I could call my own.

 **LINE BREAK**

Thankfully we all got back to the ship without any further incident and apparently my thievery was a complete success, at least I assume so since no one's made any mention of it to me as of yet. After our little post-op recap, I quickly went through the process of getting stripped out of my armor and cleaned up after the filth and grime of battle. We had even met up with another Alliance ship and transferred all the dead that we had recovered on Luna so they could be taken back to their families and given a proper burial which I was glad for. Everybody at least deserves that little bit of respect no matter who you are so I'm glad that we could at least do much for these unlucky soldiers who were the victims of people messing around with shit that they probably shouldn't be.

Whistling contentedly as I stepped into the communal room that the male members of the ground team shared I scratched my head as I walked, only to give a little start at seeing Mitch messing around with my locker. "Woley? What's going on man?"

Although basically every bone in my body was screaming in a mixture of panic, alarm and a clusterfuck of other emotions, I tried to play it off as normal. The fact that all the information I had just stolen was mere inches away from him was freaking me the hell out. "Hey sorry Wolf." He held up the datapad that I had been using to communicate discreetly with Cerberus via little notes and gave it a little shake. "This and a couple other things fell out of your locker when I accidentally brushed it and I was just picking up after myself."

The fact that Woley could be the Cerberus plant on the Normandy hit me all of the sudden with all the subtlety of a slap to the face. I had just placed the stick there a short while ago, it would make sense that whoever it was that had been tasked with retrieving it would seize it at the first potential opportunity. However, this was not a possibility that I was going to even consider right now, just making normal conversation was the current objective. "Hell Mitch, you'd think an N7 Infiltrator would be a bit less clumsy."

Walking over to the shorter blonde, I helped pick up the other personal effects that had fallen out. "Usually I would, but I just saw the opportunity to annoy you so I let it happen."

A tiny little wave of relief swept over me as I saw the starkly white drive still there and put it away with the rest of my stuff. "Now it all makes sense." With the contents now safe in my little cabinet, I started to change from my more casual gear into the Alliance sanctioned workout clothing I had kept from my days back in the armed forces. "What do you say we really take it back to the old days and go have a workout in the jail cell/workout room downstairs?"

"I guess I wouldn't say no to that." He gave a little shrug and started to perform an attire change of his own. "We sparring or what were you thinking?"

"No no no, I'm much too tired for that tough guy." I gave a quick little bark of laughter. "I was just thinking we beat up a couple heavy bags, maybe do some movement exercises and see what else we get up to. I could probably stand to build up my biotic stamina a bit too while we're at it."

He gave the little smirk that I knew meant a wisecrack was coming. "It sounds more like you're propositioning me right now but yeah, that sounds like fun buddy."

"Well if that's the case you wanna grab anybody else and make this thing a real party? Maybe a certain asari scientist that you happen to be chatting up pretty frequently?"

"Too far Wolf, too far." I grabbed my two knives and tucked them into my pockets before we headed out and towards the elevator. "You always manage to take a funny little joke and just stretch it out that bit too far where it's uncomfortable. It's a unique skill of yours."

"Thanks, I've always prided myself on shaking things up so I will most definitely take that as a compliment." As the doors opened in front of us and we prepared to head a level down, I heard a loud shout interrupt us as the doors began to close. To my surprise, I saw Shepard himself with his hand held up and trying his best to not wait for the elevator to resurface. "Sorry commander, didn't see you there otherwise I wouldn't have made you rush like that."

"It's no problem Wolf." He waved me off and turned to the lieutenant, giving him a little nod. "From your gear I assume you two are going to work out, mind if I join you?" Both of us gave a shake of our heads as he jammed his finger into the button. "Great. I haven't missed a potential combat scenario in years so you could say I've got a bit of extra energy I need to get rid of. Plus, being able to step down a bit from the limelight and just be a regular grunt going through a training regimen to keep myself sharp like everybody else is great, it's a nice break now and then."

Damn. After that statement from the man, I was feeling a little stupid for not thinking of something like that earlier. Being the poster child for the Alliance, hell it was probably humanity itself at this point, for the last seven years has to take an incredible toll on a person. It was basically like being a celebrity except you get less pay, probably about the same amount of people chasing you everywhere you went, oh yeah and you had to deal with the fact that you stared death in the face every time you did the job you were so well known for on top of that shit. How's that for an everyday life? Can't say that I really blame the guy for just wanting to kick back and be, "one of the guys," every now and instead of the icon known as Commander Shepard.

Since I was a bit too mired up in my own thoughts, Mitch spoke up for the both of us. "Yeah that sounds good commander. We were just going to run through some basic stuff anyway so if you want to not have to worry about things it'd be a good time to do it."

"Excellent." As soon as the doors fully closed behind us and it was just the three of us, he slumped back against the bannister surrounding the elevator, just taking in a few breaths as he let his posture fully relax for probably the first time I'd ever seen him. "Besides, I promised Wolf I'd teach him how to Shockwave," my ears perked up at that, "and while I can't exactly do that on the ship, we can at least go over some theory today." He gave an eager grin at seeing my own expression, it seems that I'm not the only one who really enjoys learning some new biotic tricks.

I couldn't stop a grin from spreading across my face. "That sounds just fine to me. It's been years since I've taught anybody but if you want I could try to share my Bio-Cade or Palm Crush. Not that you really need it, I mean that thing you pulled back on Therum was probably the most terrifying biotic display I've ever seen."

"Oh, yeah." He winced at the memory. "Using that technique is usually the last resort I go to but I just wanted to get the hell out of that place as soon as humanly possible."

Now that the elevator ride was finally over, the three of us filed out and stepped into the empty prison room that served as the makeshift training facilities for the crew. "And by technique, you mean Terror right?"

I smirked as Shepard just stared straight ahead, only the slightest of grins crossing his face. "No. I definitely didn't mean that. And going forward I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear anything you said just to keep this conversation moving forward."

Woley was the first to step up to the heavy bag and I promptly circled around behind the thing and held it in place as he started to go to work. At first he worked the lower part with what would have been body shots, just warming up a bit with some light taps. As the blows got more intense and the diminutive sniper started to work in some kicks and more vicious blows, Shepard began to talk again. "Before anything else, I want you to back up and hold that thing in place with your biotics Wolf."

"What?" I looked at him curiously.

"Your pure power or surge, whatever you like to call it, is still top-notch for a human biotic but your reserves are awful to put it bluntly." Well, he certainly doesn't mince his words. "I can't say that I blame since I would guess you haven't had any prolonged skirmishes in a long while but now that you're back with us, I need you to at least get back to where you were before you left the Alliance and hopefully even better."

That's fair, I hadn't really used biotics for a prolonged period in a very long while so it made sense that my biotic muscles fatigued fairly quickly now. For the last two years, I had fought brutal but short skirmishes that required quick, overwhelming application of force but there was really no need for prolonged usage as I had typically been able to end the battle before my reserves ran dry. "Will do Shepard. I'll make sure to come down here and train as much as possible just holding Barriers."

"Perfect." He nodded. "Tell you what, you don't even need to do that. Whatever you're doing while on the Normandy, I want you to have your Barrier up, just holding it. There's nothing that builds up the stamina like constant usage."

"I can do that."

By now, Woley had started to tire out and he gave me a nod as he wiped a bit of sweat that had pooled on his forehead. "Your turn big guy."

"You can go ahead and take a seat Woley, I'll hold it for Wolf."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

As the blonde toweled off on a nearby bench and watched, the commander surrounded himself in a blue hue as I took my combat stance and started to launch attacks on the inanimate object in front of me. "I've made up my mind Wolf, I know what it is I want in exchange for me teaching you how to Shockwave."

"What's that?" Grunting, I slammed a left-right-left followed by a front kick that would have broken ribs if it was a human in front of me.

"I've been thinking about this vision you mentioned." Huh. That wasn't what I was expecting at all. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Really not much to say." I gave a little shrug as I stepped back from the equipment for just a moment before stepping back in. Now I was pretty much punctuating each short sentence with a volley of blows. "Pretty sure I already told you the details of how it happened right?" He nodded. "Good. So what exactly did you need to know then?"

"Specifically I want you to tell me about the last image you saw." I gave a little nod before striking again. "The one you said had the Reapers in the background."

"Right. I mean there's not much to say unfortunately." I paused and took a step back to breathe in deeply. "The scene wasn't clear but now that I've been to the Citadel I recognize it as the location. There was a man in full armor." Stepping in I struck again with sharp staccato breaths added to the sound of the blows. "He was stepping up to some sort of device. Reapers were all around in the background blowing shit up. A few seconds passed, guy pushed a button and started screaming in pain. That's it."

Fully exhausted from the repeated punching, I stepped back and took a seat next to Woley. "So this…person, could you tell if they were human?"

Giving a quick nod to the commander, I leaned back against the wall. "Yeah. Definitely human. The hair kind of gave it away but other than that I couldn't see shit. Everything was from the back and the only reason I could tell the person was in pain was the convulsions and wrenching. There was no sound or color either so I can't even give you a clue there."

"I see."

He had now joined us so all three of us were sitting on the bench. There were a couple seconds of silence before Mitch, who had been pretty quiet this whole time, asked a question. "Could you do it again if you had to? Recreate the vision, I mean."

"I really don't know. If I had to I could probably recreate the circumstances since all I really need is enough energy to hold a Charge for way too long but whether I'd see it again is a whole different thing. Hell I don't even know if this was some kind of freak one-time deal or what, Liara mentioned something about asari, 'seers,' who meditate and come across shit like this sometimes but apparently it usually takes a long-ass time which we don't really have. Plus, I was in a state of rather…heightened emotions and adrenaline. Guess what I'm saying is I just don't know if this is something we could really recreate in a test scenario."

"That's understandable." Shepard had been taking everything in as I said, not interrupting me and just letting me hash it out which I appreciated. "Hypothetically, if you were going to try this again how long would it take you to recover?"

Shit, I don't even know. "A few days at the very least, a couple weeks at the worst. Really can't say unfortunately. Besides though, I mean it could have just been me tripping out from overclocking my biotics, like I said I wasn't exactly in a great state of mind back then."

"For the record, if you would be willing to try it again sometime I think it's more than worth the risk but I'm not the one on the line here so I'm not going to make you do anything." Standing up, the gray eyed man pulled both me and Mitch to our feet with a big smile. "However, I'm somewhat biased towards believing in visions considering my own circumstances so if you can find something to give us a little nudge in the right direction, it would be much appreciated." With that out of the way, he snapped into instructor mode and assumed a much more professional tone. "Now you'd better get that Barrier up and hold it while I hit this bag. I said I would improve that stamina and I don't like to lie so I'd better not see that thing falter one bit."

With a grin of my own, I concentrated for a split-second and surrounded my person in a biotic shield that was as strong as I could make it. "Roger that Shep."

 **A/N: So school is still school and I dislike Biology just as much in college as I did in high school. Also, thanks goes out to Logical Premise once again and his Encyclopedia Biotica, the "Impactor" technique is one I borrowed from his book there.**

 **Another thank you goes to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing his kickass Beta work.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **RSC: Same here man, I'm not usually a mecha guy but I loved Gurren Lagann.**

 **Dekuton: Welp, I already PM'ed you about the similarities but yeah, I was just playing a few games of Overwatch last night and now that similarity is stuck in my head, lol.**

 **Guest: The Cerberus/Miranda subplot is definitely something that will be explored more as the story goes on and will only ramp up as things progress. Glad you're enjoying that particular bit of the story!**

 **Fallout Fan: Yeah I never really liked the way the game handled it, so I just tried to go about it logically. I get that there's limitations since it's still just a game after all but the repercussions of what went down at Eden Prime would be much more influential and could also give a little bit of insight as to why Ashley's butted heads with Wolf so easily.**


	12. Tremors

Things had become a rather comfortable pattern on the Normandy now as we all waited anxiously for Saren's next move to be discovered, which meant I had a little bit of freetime while spies of all races working for the Council combed the Traverse. So far though, the Spectre had remained strangely quiet. In the meantime however, that meant the Alliance passed whatever odd jobs they saw fit right into the lap of the Shepards who now had pretty much universal freedom to operate as they saw fit thanks to their new status. This was obviously a fact that the politicians intended to take full advantage of.

I had actually sat out the last few random-ass combat missions we had taken which was honestly fine by me. Wrex hadn't really been out in the field yet and from what I saw of him, he seemed to be getting a bit antsy so it was probably for the better that he blew off some steam. The same could probably be said for my former student too but of course, no one worried quite as much about a random Alliance corporal getting restless when you compare that to the significance of a krogan battlemaster being in that state of mind.

What that little break **really** meant for me was that I actually had quite a bit of time to work intensely on building back up my biotic stamina, which to Shepard's credit was definitely lacking. I had been doing my fair share of fighting in the years since my exit from the military but if I was going to get into any sort of lengthy, protracted fight I'm honestly not sure how long I could reasonably expect to operate at a high level of power with my attacks.

Besides that, I had actually fallen into a nice regiment of waking up to perform maintenance on the crew's firearms while getting ignored for the most part by Williams, which was actually a step up considering previously it was open disdain. Usually that was followed by some intense drilling where I was joined by a combination of two or three crew members who were doing their own thing. Tali especially made sure that I instructed her in the art of the knife which I had promised a little while back and to her credit, she picked up on it quite quickly. While it required me to teach some alternate techniques I wouldn't ordinarily use since she'd have to require much more on quick slashing than my usual method of just overpowering the opponent, the quarian was cat-like when it came to being quick on her feet and that was honestly the most important thing. The arm work could be taught but being fast with your footwork was something that from my experience you naturally either had or you didn't and she definitely belonged to the first group.

After that it was a nice little break at the cafeteria where I sampled the finest cuisine the armies of humanity had to offer and tried not to bitch too much about it. After that I usually had some free time before going into some sort of repeat of the above. Today's cycle however was a different story entirely.

Currently I was sitting in one of the open holding cells in the Normandy's lowest level, listening as my omni-tool rang. To be honest, this was a call I should have made a long-time ago but I hadn't because I'm an asshole who likes to conveniently forget about the past instead of embracing it and learning to live with the consequences of my own actions.

Which meant that when the voice of an irate british woman immediately started to berate me as soon as the dinging stopped and the vidscreen opened I couldn't help but grin and bear the punishment that was coming my way. Talia Hawkeye, the Adept chosen for the old Sierra Team that Mitch and I had both been a part of always had been a spitfire so I'm glad that hadn't changed despite years going by and the fact she was paralyzed from the legs down. The group of six we both were handpicked for had been together only a short few months when the attack of Torfan where I got my unfortunate moniker went down. Half of us were killed trying to make contact with a group of Marines that radio contact had been lost with and Mitch and me were the only ones to make it out without any long-lasting damage to our bodies. Well, besides my little artificial eye of course but that's not debilitating. Talia had stayed behind to make sure the slavers chasing us through those God forsaken tunnels weren't going to be able to completely surround us and in the explosion that her and another member of the team set off she had been trapped in the debris, causing severe damage to her spinal cord.

"Nathaniel Wolfert you bloody bastard! Why the hell haven't you called me you asshole? Mitch makes sure to check in with me at least once a month and you just disappear off the face of the earth, don't even drop me your contact info or anything so I can get a hold of you either?"

I just smiled at the angry visage of the blonde woman in front of me. "Hi Hawkeye, glad to see you're doing so well."

Of course, my stupid smirk just grinning back at her only angered her further. By now the normally pale woman's face was turning red and a deadly finger had been pointed at the screen with just the tiniest flare of blue visible at the tip. "Don't you dare, 'Hi Hawkeye,' me like it hasn't been four fucking years since we've talked you tit. I'm here doing bugger all sitting my damn ass in a damn wheelchair while you go off gallivanting to the Citadel and around the galaxy doing who knows what while the only person I ever hear about it from is your damn mate Woley."

"Uh, I'm sorry?" I just shrugged and winced.

At that she sighed and covered her face until it thankfully returned to its normally much lighter shade. "Just tell me you haven't cocked anything else up too badly at least."

"Not yet no." I shook my head. "I don't know if Mitch told you but I'm back working with the Alliance as a contractor."

"Why do you think I asked the question about you screwing things up? He's kept me up to date for the most part," now it was her turn to appear sheepish, "including Detroit. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your father and ladyfriend by the way."

"Thanks. That's part of the reason why I didn't say hey to be honest." I relaxed a bit and lay down on the cot that I had been sitting on this whole time. "Was in a real bad place but I'm doing a lot better now, even if I still have a…relapse every now and then." We were both quiet for a moment before I perked up. "But what's up with you? You made any progress with your PT since the last time we met up?"

The ex-Marine's face started positively beaming at that. "Funny you should mention that, a specialized doc from some private medical group just stopped by the place the other day and they want to get me in their clinic to take a further look at what happened to me. According to him there's been some sort of breakthrough in implant tech lately and due to how my injury happened, I'm one of the first they're going to work with."

"That's fucking great! Still not sure why they'd pick some stuck-up Brit to be the first to try new, expensive tech on but I guess they just figure you're expendable or something like that."

Her eyes sharpened down to the width of a blade. "You're lucky that I have no way to get to you otherwise I'd wheel myself out there and kick your bloody ass right now you damn Yank."

"I'm shaking in my boots." I chuckled at the woman's proclamation before hesitantly returning to the prior subject, not wanting to tread on the wrong area. "So…did they give you any kind of idea of what can happen to you if these implants do what they're supposed to?"

She leaned into the screen with a vicious grin that I knew well, even if I hadn't seen it in years. I remember the first time I saw it was back when our shy tech specialist with a heart of gold, Marissa Simmons had been getting verbally harassed by a group of rowdy asshole Marines and she launched into such a pile-up of British slang that they had no idea what to do. Frankly, I don't think we did either but it got the job done since they left her the hell alone afterwards. "Yeah. They say if this works I won't need a wheelchair for the rest of my life." She shook her head in disbelief. "Hell, they say I'll even be able to fight again. Can you imagine that? Me, who's been stuck in this damn thing going on five years now, getting back into the thick of things?"

That honestly would be amazing. A minor miracle really. I just hope they're not building her up only to let her down because if that's the case, there's a few scientists in line for an ass-beating of epic proportions. I was just about to open my mouth to speak when the voice of our resident smart-ass and pilot, rang out over the speaker system, interrupting my chat with Jenkins. "If it's not too much trouble for those of you choosing to fly with us today, could Corporal Jenkins, Gunnery Chief Williams and Mr. Wolfert report to the communications room? The commanders and lieutenant are up there right now and they don't seem to be too big on waiting so I'd do it sooner rather than later if I were you guys."

Hearing everything that just happened, Talia gave a knowing grin, fully understanding the situation. "Well, it sounds like you're needed. Go save the galaxy you big idiot."

"Roger that Corporal Hawkeye ma'am." I gave a salute as I yelled back at the ceiling, knowing that the interconnected communication network on the ship would relay it back to the man. "That's easy for you to say, considering you get to chill in that comfy chair on your ass all day."

"I'll have you know that I get up every now and then to stretch." There was a pause. "Also, if I sit in it too long, I get that weird thing where your clothes start clinging to you and that's just ridiculously uncomfortable. Really need to talk to the Sheps about getting me a chair that doesn't do that…maybe even one that massages the muscles too, that way I don't have to get up ever."

"Just keep on working hard Joker, maybe someday you'll be able to live the dream."

I worked my way up the spiraling staircase, Jenkins right next to me the whole time. "So Rookie, you think it's weird that it's only the humans being called in for this little thing?"

Jenkins shook himself out of the usual state of mind he found himself in, namely one of a naïve sort of absent-minded eagerness that made me almost envy the kid. "I uh, didn't really notice that until you said it."

"Right. Course you didn't." I mumbled to myself before projecting a bit more. "I forget sometimes that you're not a suspicious bastard like me Jenkins." I clapped him on the back. "Just, never change alright?"

He flashed a cheesy grin as we joined the other three human members of the ground team who were standing in a little circle, all looking some level of worried. The thing that worried me the most was Chelsea though. Usually the woman was more cheerful than any commando I'd ever seen who just so happened to be able kill you in a half-second but right now her jaw was firmly clenched and her hands flexed seemingly uncontrollably.

Seeing as Caleb was trying to talk to her about whatever it is that had her so on edge, it didn't surprise me that Mitch was the first one to address us. "We just received a call from Admiral Kahoku. Apparently a Recon team operating in the Sparta System has gone missing. They were investigating a distress beacon that had gone off on the planet Edolus and since they touched down, they haven't been heard from since. Seeing as we're the closest ones to the planet, we've been chosen to go in. You've probably noticed that we've been very selective as to who's coming down for this mission and there's a reason for that, unlike our usual missions this is an affair almost solely tied to us humans so we'll be the ones to find our lost men."

"What's with Chels?" I practically whispered into the blonde's ear.

"Marines who've gone missing tied in with some sort of distress beacon is a sort of trigger for her when you consider her past. The commander wanted to keep her on the ship while we handled it but she heavily insisted so here we are." He nodded to Jenkins, Wiliams and me. "Go get your gear on, the three of us will be down to join you in a minute. We'll be inserting via Mako as per usual which I'm sure you're just ecstatic about Wolf."

"Overjoyed."

As I exited the room, I gave a quick look back at Chelsea who was pretty much shaking at this point while the younger Shepard tried to calm her down. I couldn't tell what he was saying but the fact that she continued to stare at the floor almost unblinkingly, just gritting her teeth indicated that whatever he was saying was going in one ear and right out the other. Hopefully she'll be recovered by the time we're down there. I don't feel great about this mission and in my experience my gut when it comes to this kind of stuff is usually right. I'll definitely have to keep an extra eye on her just in case while we're down there. It's not that I don't think she's fully capable of handling herself, hell Chelsea's arguably more dangerous than me even without biotics, but still, that's no good if she loses control of herself down there.

Absentmindedly, I took the elevator down along with Williams and Jenkins before gliding over on autopilot to the locker where I stored my weapons and armor. I went through the usual process of putting on the undersuit, attaching the various ceramic plating and then syncing my weapons, omni-tool and Recon Hood together so that all three of them were ready to go.

As I pulled my mask over my head the digital display sprang to life and I finalized the whole process on my device. It was about this time that the other three team members going down there showed up and thankfully Chelsea's look had been replaced by one of an intensely driven focus. "Wolf!" She turned to me with a look I had never seen from her in the short time on the ship, even in the middle of a firefight, as she tossed what I recognized as an ML-100 Grenade Launcher at me before grabbing a missile launcher of her own. "We're bringing heavy weapons down for this one."

"Are we expecting much resistance?" I tilted my head to the side in curiosity as I ran some quick diagnostics on the weapon just to make sure it was good to go before tucking it between the two assault rifles on my back. "I thought we're just going down there to investigate a missing team of Marines?"

"It can't hurt to be prepared."

Chelsea's focus had clearly spread to the rest of the team as practically without another word from any of the six of us, we finalized our preparations and stepped into the vehicle. "Joker, are we in position yet?"

"We're about a minute out Chelsea." Damn, even Joker's not making smartass comments anymore. "I'll be sounding the alarm in about thirty seconds and once that ramp opens, you'll be good to go."

"Good." She settled into her usual position on the tank which was the gunner's position, making sure that both the main cannon and machine gun were ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Wolf you'll be co-pilot and navigator for this. Woley I need you monitoring the shields."

While the female Spectre talked, a red light started to flash through the room as the ramp slowly lowered down, making an opening for us to roll out. "You're all clear to go whenever you're ready commanders."

"Thanks Joker." Instead of the chaos of the last two times I had gone down, the uncomfortable silence still held as we moved out of the ship and fell through space to the planet below. Needless to say the atmosphere was uncomfortable for all involved and there was more than a bit of squirming going on, thankfully though my nausea reigned itself in because I don't know how that would have gone over with the current mood of the team.

"We're close commander." I had been monitoring the proximity of the land, which was part of my job now as I rode shotgun next to the Lion of Elysium. "Activate jets." With a brief nod, he cushioned our fall and between those things plus the shocks, our drop was fairly cushy all things considered.

After just a few seconds, I pulled up the map of the planet with a pulsing little dot indicating our current objective. "Head North and just a bit West then we'll be there in no time sir. Should be a pretty straight shot from our current spot, Joker did a great job with the drop."

"I'll make sure he knows you approve." Caleb looked over to me and gave a wry grin as he simultaneously switched to the private comms. "Look. I'm sure you've heard about Chelsea's past on Akuze and frankly I'm worried about her. She's not the type to freeze up but if she does, I want you to grab her and get her out of whatever it is we're getting into with a charge or whatever it is that you need to."

"I can manage that. You just worry about the driving and leave your sister to me sir, between the two of us there's nothing to worry about."

"Good." He switched back to the group channel. "How far out are we Wolf?"

"One second." I looked back to the digital display in front of me and zoomed in. "Were about a klick and a half out so we should be seeing signs of the Marines sometime soon." If there are any of course, not that I was gonna voice that over the group channel. Some things are better kept to myself. In my experience going in to rescue Marine teams who were in various forms of distress had never ended well but who knows, maybe this time we'll get lucky and they won't all be dead. Cheerful thoughts I know but that's just the harsh reality of the situation.

As we rolled through the brown hilly terrain, we finally came to a large clearing with nothing but a visible and seemingly fully intact M29 Grizzly battle tank in the middle. Huh, there's no apparent signs of battle, at least from this distance which is odd. It could be a positive indicator but it could also mean that they were simply ambushed somewhere else by forces clever enough and possessing enough common sense to at least get them out of the fricking tank with a giant cannon before attacking. Although the fact that they hadn't come back to the vehicle at any point didn't exactly paint the brightest picture, there was a small amount of hope now at least for the team. Who knows, maybe there wasn't a fight at all and some other entirely unforeseen thing happened that forced them to just take shelter somewhere else…although I don't see something like a cave that would immediately stand out to regroup on.

I didn't have a whole lot more time to hypothesize what could have happened to the Marines as it only took a short while longer to get there. "Alright, we're here team." Shepard's voice broke the uncomfortable stillness as we piled out of the APC and onto the ground which was…oddly soft. Guess this planet's just got some kind of weird-ass dirt or something, who even knows. Anyway, we made the little trek from where we dropped off the Mako, the commander being careful not to interrupt the potential, "crime scene," and strolled over to the site of the incident. "I'm investigating this beacon so have weapons at the ready just in case this is an ambush."

The four of us non-Shepards barked out a tense affirmation of the commander's words while Chelsea just knelt down and scraped at the ground with the gloved hand that wasn't carrying an LMG. We formed a tight little semi-circle around the male Spectre who was now fiddling with the device, probably sending up a confirmation of our arrival and then deactivating it if he was following standard Alliance protocol, which was a pretty safe assumption considering who it was we're talking about.

Chelsea meanwhile had gotten up from her kneeling position and was turning every which way, as if she was intensely scrutinizing the scenery, all the while muttering completely unintelligible shit over the comms. "Hey Chels, you're coming in a bit soft, what are you thinking?"

"We've gotta go. Now." Shit, what the fuck's going on with Chelsea? She's been acting borderline schizo ever since this mission started and now it's only getting worse.

"Sorry, what?" I just shook my head at the woman who was growing more frantic by the second. "That some kind of joke or something? I mean we just got here, the least we can do is drive around a bit and try to find these guys."

"Hate to say it but I'm with Wolf on this one." Ashley put in her two cents while insulting me which as it was about par for the course, didn't really rile me up too much. "We've found no evidence of these Marines, dead or alive and that means we need to find them. We have a duty to bring them home safe if it's at all possible."

That actually seemed to calm her a bit, judging from the little relaxation that came from the shoulders. "I just…don't like this place. It feels wrong."

"I'm actually starting to agree with you ma'am." Jenkins peered around his own rifle at our surroundings. "This area's much too calm for a fight to have gone down recently. We should have been shot at by now if this was the work of pirates or slavers."

That's true. If this was going to be the standard Terminus affair of business, they probably would have attacked as soon as they had seen Shepard bending down since that would have put the odds at the highest for them to take all of us alive with no casualties considering we were one man down and out of our vehicle to the point where it would be a rather long run to get back to it. Plus with our only cover being the Grizzly itself, we would have been at a severe disadvantage in this case.

Mitch finally butted in now as he also had been scanning the horizon with his Mantis sniper rifle. "No signs of hostiles whatsoever, not even a glint of a weapon or armor. My guess is that these poor bastards got separated from their vehicle somehow by slavers who jumped them and took them into slavery."

"Where's the fight though?" I still had seen no evidence whatsoever of the usual signs of battle which left me baffled. No fucking Marine was just going to go willingly to be sold into slavery, especially knowing the atrocities that were likely to happen. "I don't think they'd let themselves get separated that far from their vehicle without having a solid reason."

Mitch just shrugged at that. "I think we're all grasping at straws here Wolf. I'm trying to throw shit out there because I've honestly got no clue as to what even remotely happened either. All I can see is no Marines and no enemy which means that they either are all holed up here somewhere on planet which makes no sense since they would have come back here by now to respond to stuff like us rolling through or they got kidnapped."

"Well, I've just disabled that distressed call." Caleb stood up and arched his back, stretching out a bit after his prolonged period of crouching over a little display. "Our current move is to-" He paused for a bit and cocked his head, looking at the ground, before sending a hand up to his ear. "Joker, is this planet known for any irregular seismic activity?"

There was a little pause as I'd imagine the snarky pilot looked over some data he had regarding our current location. "Not seeing anything, sorry Shep."

By that point I think everyone could feel the shaking judging from the looks we all were exchanging. For a moment, nothing happened but just as I was about to say something about getting the hell out of here before things got too bad, Chelsea burst forward.

"What's wr-" Was all the commander could say in the time he had before his older sister picked him up and physically carried him away from the Grizzly before sending both of them to the ground. "This is no time for screwing around."

As the group of us four stared at the commander's in shock, the female Shepard turned and even though her face wasn't visible, her extreme distress clearly was. "Move the fuck away from the heavy equipment now!" Her sentence was punctuated by a giant worm bursting from the ground. One that I quickly recognized from a news report six years ago on Akuze. Huh…so that's a thresher maw. "Split up and don't stay together!" She fired at the thing's body with her missile launcher as it swallowed the tank whole where her brother had been just a few seconds earlier. "Those fucks seem to recognize the heaviest portions of ground, don't make yourself an easy target."

The six of us sprinted away to form a full circle know, just waiting for the thing to reappear again. Chelsea had fought these things before and since she was the only survivor, she obviously had somewhat of an idea of what she was doing which was more than the rest of us put together. "Chels!" I felt a rumbling near me and I biotically charged the hell out of there, turning my back and firing my Lancer as soon as I touched ground again. That was fucking close. "How do we even kill this thing?"

"Just stay alive for now." She sounded scarily placid, which when compared to the freakout she was in before just compounded the effect. "Pepper this thing whenever possible, when I see a chance I'll kill it. It's only one this time."

True to what Chelsea was saying about the thing targeting weight, the Mako was the next thing to go down. In just one moment it burst from the ground, taking the thing in its massive mouth and erasing it in one quick movement. God I'm glad we're not in there.

This time however, it didn't disappear underneath as the two times beforehand. The hulking snakelike beast's face stayed in the air, looming dangerously over the six of us little ants below it. "It's going to spit acid." Once again, Chelsea's serene tones came in over the comm channel in a voice that was much more fitting for her brother than her. "Barriers and shields are basically useless against it as well as armor. If it's facing you, run as fast as you can directly sideways. Biotics help out the non-biotics with quick movements if they get bogged down."

Well. Technically she's a non-biotic too but from the way she's talking, I'm not going to bring that up. I'm honestly not sure if the maw or her is scarier right now. "Commander Chelsea look out!" As Jenkins screamed, the lady just stood there, dual N7 Eagles still spitting defiantly as if she was going to take it head-on.

As the thing hacked green acid towards the first female Spectre, I could only watch in horrified amazement as she weaved between the bursts of deadly-looking burning fluid with the grace of a dancer, not a heavily-trained commando specializing in heavy frontal assault. For fuck's sake it was almost as if she was in slow-motion.

"Don't look at her, just keep doing your job." Caleb illustrated the point by launching a couple Warps that hit the thing and left little char marks on the side, although it didn't have any noticeable effect on the creature's behavior. Chelsea though had seemingly pissed it off as it was now rushing full-on at her, its stories high head crashing down towards the ground at a frightening speed for something that big.

She actually tucked the weapons on her hips now and was running at the thing full-bore. I was extremely tempted to charge in there, grab her and get the hell out but considering she was the only one who had fought one of these things before, I'm going to leave it to her.

Once the thing was practically on top of her, my fellow N7 pulled three or four of the incendiary grenades off her belt, threw them at the ground directly below her and rolled away, the teeth of the thing missing by mere feet. As the thresher disappeared below the ground, she hit a button on her omni-tool and even through the ground, the roar of pain was visceral.

"Nice work Chelsea!" Jenkins gave a congratulatory shout as he started to rush over to the woman.

"Yeah." Mitch hoisted his sniper rifle over his shoulder and wiped some off the dirt off his Kuwashii visor. "It's just too bad that the Mako got destroyed by that thing."

Chelsea just held up a hand though. "It's not dead yet, move."

Once again, the thing burst from the ground and I switched to the grenade launcher I carried, blasting away indiscriminately at the massive thing. I even launched a Warp or two just for added effect although I'm not sure how much it's really doing. Even the explosives I'm launching don't seem to be upsetting it much. Off to the right, Jenkins was firing and the two who had just been trying to rejoin the woman, ran in opposite directions.

And just like that, the cycle renewed all over again. I think for the first time in my life when it comes to combat, I actually felt overwhelmed as I looked around to see how the rest of the team was doing. Humans, asari, turians, batarians, throw whatever the hell you want at me and I'd feel pretty confident but against something like this…it was a whole different story. Not that I'm going to let that show to anyone else around me one bit, I think Chelsea's almost trancelike state of being was doing that well enough.

Off to my right, an orange glow came from Woley's omni-tool as he fired a cluster of electrically charged bolts at the behemoth. As the thing roared at the minor annoyance, he fired a few shots right into its gaping mouth that had no effect other than getting deadly fluids sent his way for his trouble. All around, the team was doing their best with whatever was in their arsenal. The commander hurled biotic attack after attack, seemingly having infinite reserves. Jenkins stomped around in his heavy armor, firing as he moved and tossing whatever explosive ordinance he possessed. Ashley did the same, peppering the beast with her semi-automatic sniper rifle while throwing in the occasional carnage shot from her shotty when that overheated. I hovered somewhere between the commander and the rest of the group, alternating fire from my Lancer, being the weapon I had that could put the most shots downrange fast, switching to my grenade launcher whenever I had a one-hundred percent chance of hitting and throwing the occasional Warp.

This fucking monstrosity of a creature was something that my close-quarters prowess was almost useless against and that was frustrating the hell out of me. We were currently holding our own but with something like this, one little slip-up or wrong step meant death and with that fact in everyone's heads, it was only a matter of time unless we could find something to penetrate the thresher maw's immense defenses.

"Wolf." The tranquil voice of my female CO shook me out of my combat analysis. "Stack up on me. I've got something in mind."

"Roger that bosslady."

"And grab whatever charges Jenkins has got left too."

I charged over to my former student who had heard the whole thing and was holding the circular devices out in one hand while firing his pistol with the other. "Take 'em sir."

"Don't fucking call me sir, Jenkins. How many damn times do I have to remind you?" I sped away in a biotic blur, hastening my way back to the lady. "Here we go Chels. I've got a couple of my own that I was saving too."

She grabbed the objects out of my hand and taking advantage of the built in magnetic devices, added them to her own so she was now holding one big clusterfuck of volatile equipment. "Can you bring a person along with you in a charge," she held up a finger to interrupt my hasty affirmative response, "While keeping a fair degree of accuracy and control in addition to that?"

"Yeah." I mean, I don't exactly know what she has in mind but I've pulled some basic shit before like this going all the way back to Vanguard school when I was first figuring it out. Pulling non-biotics through solid objects I've been told is kind of a no-no but in this situation, that's not a worry. "How controlled are we talking here just out of curiosity?"

"I need you to put me within about three feet of this thing's mouth one way or another." I just stared at the woman in shock. "We've sat too long. Move and talk."

Since I could move much faster than the boss thanks to my Vanguard talents, I let her get a little headstart as I stomped up a storm while firing downwards in an attempt to try and draw the currently underground beast my way instead of hers. After about a five count, I biotically sped out of there as the familiar tunnel vision enveloped me. Can I pull this off?

As the thing burst out of the ground behind me, in a violent display of shaking earth and noxious spray, her voice filled my eardrums once again. "So can you do it or not?"

"I've never exactly done something requiring **quite** this level of necessary preciseness but yeah, I'm not seeing too many other options so fuck it, let's take this damn thing out."

God this was terrifying. If I misjudge and screw this up, best case scenario is I miss wide away from the thing and we just end up hurtling towards the nearby mountains surrounding us at a breakneck pace. Worst case…I miss towards the thing and well, I just hope the acid does its work either really quickly or my pistol is still intact so I can take care of business that way.

"Hey asshole you're thinking too much." The sounds of my diminutive best friend squawked in. "You've got this thing no problem, we've pulled way tougher stuff back in our days as partners."

I warmed up as he spoke. That rat bastard was always good for waking me up and getting me out of the mire that was my own brain. "Fine, but if I fuck this up then make sure to-"

"You're going to be fine sir, so don't even worry about it." Great, now Jenkins is getting in on the little pep talk too.

There was a pause in all communications as the labored sounds of everyone getting into position for what was about to happen was all that could be heard. As I grabbed the commander by the waist, standing awkwardly behind her, the chief even chimed in. "Good luck Wolf, aim straight."

"Roger that Gunny."

A final moment of levity was thankfully given by the commander of all people. "And watch where you put those hands." I just laughed at that, watching as he hurled a massive Singularity that sucked the head of the worm towards it, practically pinning it in place. "Now's your chance."

"Don't miss Chels."

"I never do."

The Spectre nodded and without any more talk, I hurled the two of us towards the creature, aiming to miss just left. Usually a Charge is done in the matter of a second but as the commander stretched out her arm towards the oncoming enemy, I felt like it had been an eternity that we'd been stuck here. I'm honestly not sure how she did it, as I can barely even see when I'm performing that technique, but she chucked that fucking cluster of explosives right into that thing's mouth and detonated it one fluid motion.

With a loud roar, the thresher maw finally collapsed to the ground in a heap, sending up a massive cloud of dust and earth. "Holy shit Chels, that was fucking amazing!" I walked over to celebrate with the woman, fully expecting to receive some sort of exultant response, even with her recent behavior taken into account. "Chelsea? You alright?"

The fully armored woman was staggering almost drunkenly in front of me, just clutching her head and it seemed like she had to struggle to stay on both feet. It was right about that moment when the comm channel started to fill with sounds of the female Spectre hissing sharply as if she was in immense pain that the commander flash-stepped into the scene, grabbing his sister around the shoulders.

"Lieutenant Woley, call in the Normandy for pickup." Even though his voice seemed calm, there was a tension underneath it that was inescapable.

"Roger that sir." The sniper hesitantly saluted before turning his back to the scene that was going on. "Joker this is Woley, we're going to need you to come land here. The Mako got destroyed and Commander Chelsea seems to be having some sort of issue here so we're going to need you to touch down ASAP."

"Can do." Even Joker seemed a little off. "Was she wounded? Chakwas has been monitoring her armor's medical readouts from the ship here and she didn't seem pleased to say the least."

Woley turned and looked at the woman who was still unresponsive in her younger twin's arms. "I…don't know, just hurry."

The next few minutes were a blur of confusion as the commander ordered us around, putting the final touches on the mess that had been caused thanks to the creature. Seeing the Normandy explode onto the scene and touch down was a more than welcome sight as by now Chelsea was giving the occasional seizure that could easily be seen, even through the layers of heavy armor she was wearing.

"Wolfert, grab the other arm and help me get her to Chakwas."

"Yes sir." My professionalism kicked into overdrive now that I was being called on in a potentially life-threatening situation. As we flanked the woman, lifting her up so that we could slowly make our way to the ramp of the Normandy, Caleb flung out orders left and right. "Lieutenant I'm going to lean on you heavily here while I'm with Chelsea."

"Just tell me what you need commander."

"First off, the medi-gel supply from my armor just ran out so I'm going to need you to override Chelsea's omni-tool and force it to start applying. I'm not going to be able to give the post-mission debriefing either so gather only the Alliance personnel for this one and pass the details up the ladder."

While Woley just nodded as he continued to stand guard with his rifle, I couldn't help but ask questions. "But sir, none of her armor readings indicate any sort of breach. If she had been hit by acid, we would have known."

"It's nothing like that Wolf." He shook his head tersely. "This isn't something that we can deal with like a combat wound but I'm trying anything I can at this point. We just need to get her to the doc, she'll explain everything then I'm sure."

"Understood." I snapped my mouth shut and instead focused on just stepping over the little rocky outcroppings that littered the harsh landscape.

We were greeted as soon as we stepped into the shadow of the ship by Chakwas and a small contingent of the ship's onboard Marines who were carrying a stretcher. As they moved to grab the hurting woman, Caleb barked out an almost pleading command. "We need to tie her down so she doesn't hurt herself."

Thankfully, the professional had now arrived and placed a reassuring hand on the clearly distressed man's shoulder. "Everything will be just fine Shepard. Help me take off her helmet and then if I can get you two young men," she nodded to me as well, "to help bring Chelsea into my station I'll take care of everything from there."

Without any words, the commander had gingerly but with a sense of purpose, taken off his sister's headgear and tossed it off to the side. The sight wasn't pretty. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling, staring at nothing and while they didn't move, her face was a maelstrom of contorting agony, each expression looking more pained than the last.

"Wolf." I was led out of my horrified trance by the ship's doctor whose urgent tones brought me back to earth. "She's been secured to the stretcher. Take the back half please and help Caleb bring her up."

"Yeah. Yeah sure." We were the first four to take the elevator, everyone else waited outside in the dock bay and as the doors closed, panicked whispering could be heard from all angles.

Once the elevator shut and we were away from outside ears, the older woman began to inform us exactly what was happening and what would need to be done, although I'm fairly sure Caleb already knew even if at the moment he was rather distracted.

"You two are going to set down the stretcher in my room." She had now begun to inspect the hurting woman as thoroughly as she could while all but her head was encased in armor. "The first thing I'm going to do is make sure Chelsea is properly sedated and then you two will need to help me get her out of this armor."

I just stared at the still unresponsive woman. Caleb had taken her limp gloved hand in his own firm grip, doing the only thing he could do and trying to let her know in whatever current state she was in that he was there for her. "What's happening to her?"

Caleb muttered towards the ground. "She went, 'Numb.'"

"What does that even mean?"

"After what happened on Akuze, Chelsea has never quite been the same." Chakwas took over the explaining. "Because of the severe mental trauma she went through, seeing her entire platoon butchered like that, something in her brain snapped. It took her about six months to recover and ever since, this, 'Numbness,' as we call it has been lurking there in the back of her head. The triggers aren't really known since modern medical science still doesn't completely understand it but at certain times with certain stimuli, she can reach an unprecedented level of focus where anything non-essential at the moment is ignored. Along with this she is granted extremely heightened physical abilities along with almost machine-like reaction times thanks to her brain going into overdrive."

Well that would explain her ability to land that thing in the fucker's mouth then along with how she dodged that maw's fucking acid spit.

As the doors of the elevator opened in front of us, we rushed into the medical cabin. "Unfortunately, the side effect is rather similar to coming down from a drug induced high in its effects on her. All the trauma and pain that she experienced that day strikes back twice as hard seemingly."

"Please. Please just stop talking." For the first time ever, Caleb looked weak. Not like the untouchable god of the battlefield I had seen in action, this was just a brother watching his sister suffering through something that he could do nothing whatsoever about.

"Apologies Caleb." She gave the man a sympathetic look. "Set her down here."

Gently, we placed the blonde soldier down onto Karin's medical bed and with precision movements, the doctor went to work making sure that her patient was properly put under. After a minute that felt like ages, Chelsea's body visibly sagged. "Alright gentlemen, time to get her out of that so I can properly get her back on her feet."

"Start from the top Wolf." With the utmost care, we eased the comatose woman out of the heavy armor she was wearing. At any other time I probably would have grown beet red to see that she was only wearing a workout bra under the protective gear and Caleb's instincts as a protective brother would have kicked in but this was a different set of circumstances than the norm. "Just set it off to the side, we can organize later but right now speed is what matters."

"Of course."

Now that the Spectre was halfway freed, the doc once again went to work putting her still worrisome vitals into a safe range. It only took a few more seconds to release the clasps that held her shinplates and the rest from their secured position, after which she was taken off the stretcher thanks to our combined efforts, then set comfortably in Chakwas' medical bed.

"Thank you gentlemen." She gave the slightest of nods as she continued to hover over her patient. "Now if you would rejoin the rest of your comrades so I can work freely it would be much appreciated."

"I'm **not** leaving my sister."

Chakwas leveled a deadly serious look at him and I quickly stepped to his side, trying to play mediator for once. "Commander, the best thing for Chelsea right now is for the two of us amateurs to get out of the professional's way. I'm sure doc wouldn't mind if you stayed just outside the door, that way you're in yelling range if she needs anything."

I gave a look to the older woman and she nodded rapidly. "Of course." The two of us retreated out of the room and I made sure to keep an arm around the currently volatile man's shoulder just to make sure that he didn't do what I'm sure his brain was screaming at him to do, which was stay in that room no matter what anybody else said. "As soon as I have any news, you will be the first to know commander."

"Thanks Karin." He nodded and as the door closed behind us, leaving the two women alone together, he slumped against the doorframe with a heavy sigh. "You too Wolf. Would you mind relaying the news to the rest of the team? If I can't stay by Chelsea's side, the least I can do is wait right here until she wakes up."

"Of course Shep, whatever you need." I reached into my armor and pulled out a biotic supplement. "I'll go down and scare the chefs into whipping up some grub for you too but until then, this'll have to tide you over alright?" He just nodded and absentmindedly started to tear the wrapper before eating the bar with the same vacant expression. "You uh, you gonna be ok if I leave you here?"

"Don't worry about me." He pointed towards the stairs across from us. "You just make your way up to the debriefing room and let the team know what's going down."

"Will do. Just make sure to take care of yourself too Shepard."

I whirled on my heel but he stopped me before I could completely leave, grabbing my plated arm. "Just tell them Chakwas needs my help with something. Don't let them know what's really happening."

My lips pursed as I looked at the Lion of Elysium, looking much more like a lamb as his sister went through medical procedures right on the other side of the wall. "Of course. If that's what you want me to do then I'll do it."

"Thanks." He looked up and just a slight bit of fear could be seen through his eyes. "I don't want the rest of the crew to see me weak like this."

"Spectre or not she's still your twin sister. They'd understand, trust me on this."

"Maybe." He shrugged. "But do it for me still."

 **A/N: Sorry it's a bit late but hey, it's still Friday right? So yeah, old friends were talked to/berated by, the ramifications of being the Sole Survivor of Akuze are learned and maybe Caleb's not quite the untouchable savior of the Alliance that he projects himself to be. On a personal level, I picked up the Bioshock Collection last week only having played Infinite before and holy crap, the first Bioshock is an amazing game. I've just gotten through the infamous Andrew Ryan meeting and I cannot wait to get back on tonight and keep going.**

 **Big thanks goes to Ranger Station Charlie for Beta'ing and continuing to be the other half of my random-ass brainstorming sessions.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Dekuton: Knowing Wolf, I think it's pretty safe to say that he's going to do a fair amount of stupid things that will get him in trouble. In fact, I have one definite one planned already so you'll just have to wait and see how it goes down ;) Lol, well I guess we'll just have to see but I'm with you there, that requisitions guy always struck me as a bit shady…**

 **GJD: Sorry to hear that it's been underwhelming so far but I've definitely been going for more of a slow burn when it comes to M!Shep's character so hopefully by about halfway through this you'll feel differently about him and see that he's not quite the bland paragon he tries to be. And I won't spoil too much but that last thought about Wolf, Woley and Miranda isn't** _ **too**_ **far off actually. Thanks for the review!**


	13. She Drives Me Crazy

"Have either of you heard word on how Chelsea's doing?"

It had been hours since our female co-commanding officer had gone into the medical bay and right now I was sitting down in the Normandy's hangar bay, flanked on either side by the ship's resident turian sniper and our very own lovable idiot Corporal Jenkins on the other. The mood of the ship had been pretty depressing ever since we came back onboard and the sharpshooter next to me was a good example.

"Nah, nothing yet Vakarian."

I just shook my head as Jenkins cleaned his highly personalized Scimitar shotgun, pausing his inspection just for a moment to speak. "Commander Shepard hasn't left the immediate area either so until she gets better, we're in the dark here. The lieutenant has had his hands full just managing the Council and everything else that's gone undone while she's been under the weather so I haven't talked to him either."

Garrus' mandibles fluttered in what I recognized as annoyance with maybe a slight bit of worry thrown in for good measure. He had made it his own personal mission while stuck onboard the ship to modify and tweak the Mako, using practically every spare second of his time perfecting that thing's arsenal. But with that gone, he pretty much had nothing left to keep his mind off our hurting commander. I let loose a heartfelt curse. "This fucking sucks."

Pretty sure the rest of the team felt about the same, even if they didn't say it. Chakwas had exiled the ground team to the lower levels of the ship since apparently none of us had the restraint to not try and just get a glimpse of what was going on in that room. You would think that meant that most of us would be hanging around the improvised training facilities downstairs, just doing anything to get our minds off the fact that no one knew what was going on; but apparently no one wanted to be the last person to know that Chelsea would be alright.

Commander Caleb Shepard was obviously the leader of our hodgepodge group of soldiers, mercenaries, an ex-cop and…I just now realized how out of place Tali is compared to the rest of us but anyway, what I was going to say was that while Caleb led us, Chelsea was the heart that kept the team together. Hell even Wrex looked a bit more sullen than was typical while he stood at his usual post and I didn't think that was possible for a krogan as war torn as him.

The sounds of the elevator doors opening suddenly filled the room as everyone's head whipped expectantly towards the door, hoping that the smiling blonde woman would be standing there to greet us. Instead though, the downtrodden form of our temporary CO who looked even shorter than usual thanks to his slouch was there. "Still nothing."

I gave a little nod to the blonde who barely returned it as he walked past, neither of us even having the energy to halfheartedly poke a little friendly barb into the other.

The chief was the only one to even attempt to speak to him. "If you need any help running things, I'll try to pitch in as best I can."

"Same here." Hell, even Jenkins couldn't stay upbeat in this current illness we were stricken with.

"I appreciate it you two but I can handle it." He just kept shuffling past, opting to sit next to the asari who had been messing with her pistol while we waited for news. Ordinarily I would have offered to help, but well this wasn't an ordinary time. Still, it was nice to see that someone on the ship was having an alright time as T'Soni's body language ever so slightly perked up as the N7 Infiltrator sat next to her.

Gah. I need to go fucking shoot something. Or break something. Anything to escape this damn mood. I think the fact that Chelsea being hurt bothered me to this level is probably making things worse to be honest. I'm a fucking soldier again and that means people around me that I genuinely like are going to get hurt. Chances are that one or more of them will end up dead too, so I need to get that mindset back in my head now, before things go completely belly up. We'd been successful so far with only flesh wounds but it was really just a matter of time considering we were outnumbered everywhere we went.

"So what exactly happened down there then?"

Garrus asking me that simple question for what felt like the fiftieth time in the tedious hours since we had gotten back onboard was seemingly just the spark my volatile state needed to erupt. "The same fucking thing that I told you every other time you've asked, how's that?" His mandibles flared in response to my harsh answer but venting just felt too good at this point. "We went in there, Caleb disabled the beacon and a giant acid-spitting worm attacked us."

"Sir, please calm down." Jenkins got up and held his arms in front of him in a peacemaking manner but I was having none of it. "I'm sure Garrus is only worried about the commander's health, just like all the rest of us here."

"Whatever Jenkins." I just threw my hands up in the air and stormed away. Even though I knew in the back of my mind I was acting like a petulant child and would have to deal with the consequences later, again it just felt good to release everything that had been boiling these last few hours.

He questioned my retreating back. "Where are you going, we're still not allowed upstairs you know?"

"I'm not a fucking idiot kid." I mashed the button over and over again to go down in the elevator. Waiting for Chelsea be damned, hitting the heavy bag is just what I need right now. Once again, I knew I wasn't to blame but I couldn't shake the feeling that my inability to so much as dent that fucking thresher forced her to take the steps she did and that was clawing at the back of my head too. "I need to punch something hard right now and I'd rather it not be one of…you."

"Ooh, who's getting punched? I heard all the yelling down here and didn't want to miss out." In all the ruckus I had just caused, the sounds of the lift had gone completely unnoticed and now the Shepards stood in front of us. Both of them looked like they had been through hell, Caleb almost as much as his sister but there they were. "Wolf? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I paused for a second before laughing hysterically and rushing forward, scooping up the woman in my arms to give her a huge hug which surprised myself a little bit. "Holy shit, you're alive! This is fucking great!"

"I might not be if you don't let go of me."

"Oh, sorry, sorry." I let the woman down to the ground, only realizing then that a little chorus of cheers had been going on in the background as the rest of the ground team joined the throng. "That better?"

"I can breathe, so yeah." She raised her hands to try and create some room for herself as she was now in danger from just about everybody else, not just me. "Hold up team, I'll explain everything here in just a second. I'm sure it was tough being kept in the dark about the status of your favorite human Spectre," she nudged the elbow of her younger twin who just rolled his eyes, "so I'll give a short little explanation and then whatever questions you've got I'll answer as best I can."

The Soldier spec'd N7 inhaled deeply and then launched in. "Most of you know my backstory when it comes to Akuze, but I'll give the quick rundown so this whole thing makes sense. To sum it up, my platoon was called down to respond to a distress beacon, much like the situation we just encountered. Once we touched down we were ambushed by thresher maws and I was the only one to escape the planet alive, every single one of my friends there was killed that day. So when things started to happen again…it brought back some bad memories that I tried to bottle up and it led to me having a bit of a breakdown. That's it."

Damn, Chelsea should run for some kind of ambassador's position because I knew what really happened and even I just want to go along with her. "The good news," she continued with an almost ravenous smile, "is that bro and I have been coordinating with some other Alliance personnel and this wasn't some accident. They slipped up pretty bad on that last distress call which we now know was faked along with the original one that my old platoon responded to so we have a pretty good idea who did this and where they're hiding out so we're going to go knock on the front door." A generally pleased chorus of grunts and alright's, sounded through the hangar bay. "Ordinarily we'd be going back to the Citadel to pick ourselves up a new Mako but since we've got a location on these bastards," she paused to savor the moment, "well I'm sure you all have a pretty good idea what's going to happen to the people who've lured so many innocent soldiers to their death."

Caleb stepped up. "Now's not the time to go into the specifics but once we get close, we're going to have one final meeting to coordinate with the man who's been hot on these terrorists' trail and after that, everything will be shared with the group. For now though, does anyone have a question?"

I looked around the room to see a whole lot of shaking heads. "Think we're good here commander." Mitch spoke up for the group. "We'll all be ready to kick down the door when the call comes."

"Good." The commander gave a little nod as he surveyed the group. "All of you have the rest of this day cycle off before you go back to regular activities so take advantage of it. We're going to be getting back into some heavy fighting here coming up soon so do what you need to in order to prepare. Since we don't have the Mako we're going to be needing every single person here to step up and engage on this mission. Team…dismissed."

 **LINE BREAK**

"Mr. Wolfert?" I craned my neck up from my gun maintenance. The cycle of rest had passed all too quickly although it was probably the first good one anybody had gotten since Chelsea's little incident and now it was back to the grind. Ashley and I had settled by now into a usual pattern of silence that wasn't unfriendly or hostile anymore thankfully, it just still wasn't the most sociable one I've ever been a part of.

Right not though, it was our resident asari scientist who was breaking the quiet, not the gunnery chief. "Yeah, what's up Liara?"

"I had a um, a request of you, if you were able to spare a moment." God this girl is way too polite. Still not quite over her fright when it comes to my reputation as, "The Butcher," either apparently. "Of course I would not want to intrude, I can see that you and Gunnery Chief Williams are hard at work so perhaps now is not the best time."

I looked at the pile of guns we still had left to clean and gave a quick little estimate. "Tell you what, gimme about five to ten minutes here and I think chief and I'll have this thing done with. After that, I'm all yours."

"I'll finish it, just go."

I mimicked cleaning my ears out. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard what I said Wolf."

It was as if every word was just a struggle to get out. "Yeah I heard it, I just thought it was weird because you're doing something nice for me. Pretty sure last time I checked you weren't exactly my biggest fan. Something about a loose cannon and all that was involved."

"I'm just paying you back for the time you did this for me." The brunette woman still refused to make eye contact which made me chuckle a bit. There's not much worse than owing a favor to someone you don't exactly like. Now this makes a lot more sense.

"Well thanks Williams, it's awful kind of you still."

"Oh shut up and go help Blue with whatever she needs." She waved me out of here. "I'm also doing this just so I don't have to sit next to you for any longer than I have to."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." I cracked a smile as I finished putting away my maintenance equipment. "You know, that actually lacked a bit of your usual venom. If you're not careful, we might just end up not hating each other by the time we kill Saren."

She scoffed. "Maybe if he runs into some hole we can't find him and hides out for the rest of his life. Because I think that's just about the only chance there is of that happening."

"Well. I guess we'll see one way or another now won't we?" I threw a wink just to aggravate her a little bit more than I already was. "Thanks Ash."

The combined effect of me shortening her name along with the wink caused something in the black haired woman to snap and I found an omni-wrench quickly hurtling towards my head. A quick application of biotics later, it was suspended in mid-air and then gently floating back over towards the workbench. "Careful with your tools chief, I'd hate for you to lose one of 'em." It was at that moment I quickly made my escape along with T'Soni but as the elevator doors closed I was pretty sure that I could hear annoyed mumbling about how unfair biotics were.

Looking over, I saw the antsy woman next to me just doing her best not to freak out and decided to try my best to fill the dead air. Hopefully it would put her at ease. "So Liara, what'd you need me for?"

She looked a bit startled at my voice but she quickly recovered, coughing lightly as she did so. "I have found myself thinking about this upcoming mission quite a bit since the commander announced it and I want to make sure that I am adequately prepared. My mother made sure that back on Thessia I had the best biotic instructors that money can buy-"

"It definitely shows." I took the opportunity to try and be kind with the compliments. If I want to, I can be somewhat ingratiating and this was one of those extremely rare times. "Your skill and tactical awareness is quite remarkable for someone who was a civilian just a short time ago."

"Thank you, I am afraid that I cannot claim the credit for that though. That goes to my teachers as I said."

"Hey you still had to be the one to devote yourself to it." I gave a little shrug to try and cut through her veil of modesty. "Natural talent only gets you so far on the battlefield so give yourself at least a little bit of the credit for what you've accomplished. You've been able to keep up with some of the most skilled combatants in the galaxy this far and that's no small feat."

She colored a little bit at that and apparently fumbled as she tried to get back on track with where she wanted to steer the conversation. "Your compliments are appreciated. I feel I must apologize in turn however, it seems my initial assessment of you which was in accordance with the rumors I had heard appears to be wrong. So far I have not seen you to be either cruel or engaging in needless slaughter. In fact, you have been quite friendly to almost everyone on this ship, although I have noticed that you seem to take great joy in getting under the skin of Miss Williams."

"And here I thought you said you weren't too familiar with our species." I gave her a friendly grin as we stepped out of the elevator which had finally touched bottom. "But you seem to have got a pretty good read on me at least. I have been known to **occasionally** poke fun at certain people who take themselves a bit too seriously and I don't really see that stopping anytime soon." I pointed to her jacket which caused her to give me a confused look. "Now that we're down here in our little makeshift training room, why don't you get to what you need me for. Since we had such a nice little chat, I'm really hoping that pistol you've got in there isn't to kill me although if it is, I guess you're not a bad person to be the one to end it for me."

The asari appeared extremely taken aback at that which made me quickly raise my hands in apology. "Sorry, sorry, just a bad joke on my part. Part of the whole, 'not taking myself too seriously,' thing."

"How did you know I was carrying a weapon? I thought some of the personnel might get a bit nervous if a newcomer with questionable intentions like myself was carrying around a firearm, so I took no small effort to conceal it."

"First off." I raised a finger. "You're one of the ground team, just like everybody else, so if someone gives you shit, you send 'em my way ok? I don't give a damn who your mother happens to be, you're one of us now." She just nodded at my little outburst, although she did seem a bit thankful for the sentiment behind it at least, even if the words were a bit harsh. "But as far as it comes to guns, when you've been around weapons as long as I have, you just learn. Back on the streets of Detroit, knowing who was packing a knife or a piece and where, could be the difference between life and death. Along with there being just the slightest of bulges near your pocket, I could just see from the way you moved that you avoided rubbing against that area. You probably didn't even think about it but your body just moves that way naturally to avoid the uncomfortable feeling if it can help it."

"That is quite fascinating." She tapped her chin, seemingly absorbed in analyzing my past at the moment. "I would never have thought about how a certain background like yours could come in handy in that particular way."

She pulled out the weapon from her coat and let it hang by her side. "Back home it was do or die so you learn to pick up on little things like that and body language real quick, otherwise you wind up as a bloodied, bruised heap in some back alley." Clapping my hands to gloss over the backstory, I cheerfully pointed towards the weapon. "So! I'm assuming you wanted me to give you some shooting lessons then? Maybe a few little tips?"

"If it was not too much trouble…" She shyly looked away.

"Liara please, it's no trouble at all so don't act like you're putting some huge burden on me or anything. I'm happy that you're comfortable enough with me now that you're able to ask something like that." I gave a little shrug as she handed the pistol over to me. "Besides, I used to be a teacher back on Elysium and I actually kinda liked it so if anything you're doing me the favor here, reminding me of the good times when I was still in the Alliance."

I gave the weapon a quick rundown, making sure that the ammo block in there was filled with non-lethal rounds before we did anything else along with making sure the safety and all that was on. If I was going to give her tips on form, the last thing I needed was an accidental round to the face, even from a dummy bullet like that one was filled with, it would still hurt like hell from this close of a range.

"Where shall we start then?"

Pausing for a moment, I tried to think of how I used to work with my old students. "I guess the first thing I need to know is if you're capable of launching biotic attacks with either hand."

"Versatility was one of the things that my former teachers made sure that I possessed, so yes."

"Perfect." I gave a big grin as I handed her back the weapon. "Then which side are you more comfortable firing from?"

She hesitated for a moment and looked down at her hands. "I suppose I prefer the right."

"Then focus on that." I went into my own stance that I used when one handing a weapon, the left foot went slightly forward and I crouched ever so slightly. "Launching biotics is the easy part when it comes to being a dual threat, the hard part is achieving marksmanship with your weapon of choice. My ultimate rule when it comes down to it is to stick and move. Strike hard, pick off whatever targets you can and then get the hell out of here before your barriers collapse. It can get easy to think you're invincible with your biotics surrounding you but stay aware, a well-placed round can still end you just like that."

The asari nodded in understanding and mimicked my movements almost perfectly. "Like this?"

"Pretty much, yeah." I pursed my lips in approval. "It's all about finding what's comfortable for you though, there's no set rule of what's the exact best way. Here," I snagged a cheap little holographic target that I had picked up for just this purpose, "this will register your hits since you won't see where your shots are landing otherwise"

I quickly set up the mark on the wall and just sat back to observe. I'd often found that overcoaching was the quickest way to both frustrate and stifle a person's natural talents so I took a somewhat hands-off approach in cases like this. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

"Not really. I just want you to get comfortable today with firing using only one hand, we'll get into more advanced stuff later on." T'Soni nodded and then began to plug away at the target. For not going through proper marksmanship training, she actually was a fairly decent shot. Almost every shot would at least be draining the shields of an enemy which was the important part for a back-line biotic like Liara. For the close-quarters specialist like myself, getting quick and efficient kills was vital for us to be of any use but in her case, providing support was infinitely more important. Nothing makes a Vanguard's job easier than a support fighter who can constantly pester the enemy and with Liara's skills, she could easily be a very pesky mosquito with a lethal sting if coached up a bit more.

"There actually is something that I'm curious about though Blue." I waited for her to stop firing and gave a teasing little grin. "If it is not too much trouble of course."

She paused for a moment and looked over, just studying me. "You are teasing me right now are you not? Mitch mentioned that you liked to take people's own words and use it against them."

"Yeah, I'm just messing around with you." I couldn't help but laugh at her completely placid scientific assessment of me like that. "Although I do have a question. Why pick me out of all people on the ship? There's plenty of others who are good with a pistol onboard here and don't have my bad reputation."

"Well." She paused, probably trying to find a way to put what she was thinking to words. I liked that about her. In the short time we'd known each other the woman had always been very measured in almost everything she did and when she said something, you knew that she had put a great deal of thought into it. When you compare that to my rapid-fire stupidity, it was a nice little breath of fresh air sometimes. "The commanders are far too busy with their duties as CO's, Mr. Vakarian and Lieutenant Woley are more suited to sniper rifles from what I have seen, the chief and the corporal prefer assault rifles and then Tali is a newcomer to battle like myself. You were the obvious choice."

One person got left out from that description. "What about Wrex? With his centuries of experience, I'm sure he would be a great teacher."

With a shy smile, she finished her explanation. "Wrex…still scares me a little bit. I know he would never do anything while we are still shipmates but every time I try to talk to him…he just stares at me and then I can't help but retreat into myself."

"Can I tell you something?" She nodded and I whispered, as if telling some great secret. "He kinda scares me too."

Her posture straightened almost instantly at that. "Thank the Goddess I am not the only one, that relieves me so much to hear that. Although…I was not completely honest, there was one more reason that I did not mention."

"What was that?"

As I tilted my head in confusion, she looked down at the ground embarrassedly. "Chelsea said I should try to get out of my cabin more to make friends with the rest of the team and I thought this would be a good way to do it. The lieutenant is kind enough to come visit me when he has the time, but other than that I do not get out much. I am much more comfortable poring over my research notes than I am comingling with my newfound company but Chelsea insisted that I at least try. She at first suggested that I try socializing with those hanging around the cafeteria area but as I become nervous rather easily in crowds, I thought that perhaps this would be a more logical option."

"Well." I walked in front of my training partner and pretended to scrutinize the target she had been shooting at for the last few minutes, using that as an opportunity to cover my face. It's just, I had never heard of someone describe the process of making friends so analytically that I couldn't help but laugh. Not that I wanted her to see my reaction of course, the way she bared her soul like that was rather heartwarming, even for someone like me, so this was really the least I could do in the current situation. "When you put it that way it makes total sense. Not only do you get to practice your marksmanship but you also get to use me as a sort of test subject when it comes to socializing with humans."

The tiny bit of sarcasm obviously flew over her head as she gave a relieved sigh. "I am so glad that you understand. As I have said before, my experience with humans in general is rather limited so a sudden big exposure might be too much for me to handle."

"That's probably smart." I stepped over and adjusted her form just a tiny bit, making sure that she wasn't too crouched to the point that mobility would become an issue. "I'll be writing up a little training regimen for you so even if I'm not on the ship, you can become solid marksman with that pistol. Plus, I'll throw in a few little diagrams for reference just so your form doesn't fall apart either."

"I would appreciate that very much, you have been a tremendous help to me Mr. Wolfert." She gave a little nod of appreciation. "In fact, I feel rather bad for taking advantage of you so. There are most likely many other things on the ship that you would rather be engaged in so forgive me for this encroachment upon your time." The asari straightened up and noticeably brightened. "Now that I think about it, perhaps there is some favor I could do for you in return? My skills in combat are not exactly on your level so I am not sure if I could help you with that, but perhaps there is some other field I could share my knowledge of?"

She's way too damn nice to be on this ship, I swear. "There actually is one thing that I was thinking of…"

"Please share it, if the task is reasonable I will perform it to the best of my ability."

"I want you to come eat lunch with the entire crew." She went almost pale at that. "Relax, relax, I'm not gonna make you jump into the shark tank right off the bat-"

"Forgive me but what is a shark?"

Ah right, human phrases. "Uh, they're giant predatory animals that live in the water and can move crazy fast along with having an obscene amount of razor sharp teeth. The things are pretty much known for being fearsome creatures that have killed quite a few poor bastards who've ran across them at the wrong time."

"I see…that makes much more sense now." It was honestly pretty funny just to see her mood swing so suddenly from being terrified at the concept of being thrust into a large crowd, right back into her usual state of curiosity. Maybe I can use that thirst for knowledge to my advantage here, turn it around a bit.

"I'll only ask you to join us twice a week." I gasped, as if a new thought had just struck me. "Why don't you consider this an opportunity to study humans? You said yourself you don't know much about us so why not take this chance in front of you to see humanity in its natural habitat so to speak?" The daughter of Benezia appeared to have snapped up the bait I had just thrown in front of her. As I had seen multiple times now, her almost childlike inquisitiveness when it came to certain subjects far outweighed her fear of the same things. "So what do you think about my little proposal here?"

She switched her pistol into her left hand, held her right up to her face and loudly spit before offering the hand to me. "I accept."

"Liara…why did you just do what you did?"

"Um." The nervousness was suddenly back. "I was told that this is the human custom when an agreement is reached between two parties. Goddess I hope I did not offend you or-"

"Let me guess." I shook my head as I looked down at the ground. "Chelsea told you that right?" The alien woman nodded. "Yeah…we don't really do that. The shaking thing happens all the time but the spitting part, not so much. What else did she tell you about handshakes?"

"Well she said that the preferred method actually involves a ceremonial knife so the oath is sealed with blood but now I am guessing that she might not have been entirely genuine."

"Yeah. In the future, take whatever Chelsea says with a grain of -" I stopped myself mid-idiom. "Just, do a search on the omni-net first or something. Still though," I put my hand up to my mouth and returned the gesture, lubricating my palm before taking her much smaller blue one, "it'd be rude for me not to return the favor."

"Whatever else she might have said, I believe the commander was correct about one thing."

"Oh?"

I raised an eyebrow as Liara's eyes crinkled a little bit in laughter. "You are quite an odd individual Mr. Wolfert."

"Yeah. She was pretty much spot on with that assessment." I pointed back to the pistol in her hand. "What do you say we get back to training?"

 **LINE BREAK**

"I heard that you're training Liara when it comes to pistols." Chelsea, mouth full of Alliance, "spaghetti," pointed her fork across the table at me. It was actually a little impressive that she didn't let something like barely being able to move your mouth without having food spill out slow her down.

"Yeah, I am." Taking a bite myself, I chewed slowly and deliberately. "She's a good student. Hell a good person in general, even if she's much too naïve for this kind of business."

"Maybe that's a good thing. Idealism can be nice in all this." I just turned to look at the corporal and I'm pretty sure the commander did the same. "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing, I just didn't think of it like that."

I shrugged as Chelsea answered the younger man. "Long as she doesn't hit that breaking point and just snap of course. Having that pureness and then losing it is almost worse than not having it in the first place and just being a cynical old bastard."

"Speaking from experience Wolf?" Chelsea raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, you know how it is." The reference was more to myself and losing Em and Jack but of course I wasn't going to say that. "I've been in the game for a while now, you see some shit."

Chelsea threw back her head and laughed while Jenkins just grinned, not quite sure what the big joke was. "Shit Wolf, you talk like you're an old man but you can't be much older than Jenkins here. You're what…twenty-seven, twenty-eight?"

"Twenty-six, yeah."

"You're only twenty-six sir?" Jenkins looked at me oddly and I decided to ignore his not calling me by name this one time. "The way you acted back on Elysium, I would have guessed you were way older."

"Thanks kid, make me feel even more like an old man, It's totally fine." I just grinned at my former student to show I was messing with him. "Me and Mitch kinda had to though just to make sure you punks would listen to us. Couple of fresh-faced Marines, not much older than you would have been trampled all over if we didn't crack down right off the bat a little. Even if we laid off a bit once that initial discipline was instilled in the group."

He shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I can speak for the rest of the guys when I say that we would have listened no matter what. You should have heard them talk about you and the lieutenant back in the barracks, it was a little funny to hear grown men and women talk as if they were kids arguing about their favorite superhero."

I just waved off the praise, even if I was coloring a bit in embarrassment. "If I was one of their role models then that just shows how young you kids were. You should have been looking up to someone like the commander, or even Anderson. People who actually did something besides get a shit ton of people killed like me."

By now Garrus had drifted in and grabbed his specially set aside food before sitting down with a nod to the rest of the group. Chelsea however was not letting this thing go at all. "Well I did some digging and everything I've heard says you saved quite a few people by cutting through to that communications center and disrupting their headquarters. A lot of Marines would have died getting through those tunnels if it wasn't for Sierra Team."

"We still didn't do well enough."

"Who's, 'we,' because from my point of view it sounds more like you're talking about yourself." Her barrage continued and I tried to find some way to escape it. She really was insistent on getting my backstory and I was getting a bit annoyed now by her persistence. Just when I was starting to push all this shit out of my head where it didn't bother me anymore too. "What is it that's really got you all cut up Wolf? I've done some digging too you know…talked to people who worked with you after Torfan and they all described you as a fun-loving guy who was always looking to make a joke whenever you weren't on the battlefield. Hell, a lot of them even said they couldn't get you to shut up over comms in the middle of a firefight for that matter. Now though you go back and forth between this happy go-lucky, teasing persona they talked about and a bitter, sarcastic bastard who snaps at anyone that gets too close. Frankly it pisses me off."

"Do you have any complaints about my actual performance on the field or is this all just going to be about my personality?" I looked around the table to see Garrus and Jenkins pointedly just eating their food, letting the two of us have our little public spat. "Hey what do you know, Liara's joining us!" The researcher had been hovering around the edge of the room, seemingly deliberating about whether or not to join us. "Come on and sit down, there's plenty of room at the table here for one more."

"Are you sure? Chelsea and you seemed to be in the middle of something rather important and I would hate to interrupt. Perhaps it would be better if I just returned to my room and came back later?"

"Nah, come sit down. There's nothing going on right now that the rest of the team can't hear." Looking across the table at Chelsea who had been maintaining firm eye contact this whole time, I pointedly enunciated my words. "Isn't that right Chels?"

"Don't play games with me Wolfert." Shit, so much for that plan of attack. "I need to know my crew and if there's some deep-seated issue you have, it needs to come out for the better of everyone. That means them hearing it as just as important as me and bro knowing."

I decided to just blurt everything out and get it over with since it was obvious she wasn't going to let this go. That doesn't mean I was happy about it though, like I said the main way I'd dealt with it so far was just to ignore it and that didn't really help when it came to actually getting things out in the open. "Back on Earth I grew up running with a gang up until I left it because they wanted me to kill a random turian as an initiation and because I shot the crime boss in defense on my way out, my fiancé was murdered two years ago since he still had some sick kind of vendetta for me." I kicked back in my seat and hissed out an exhalation. "You happy now? There's the big secret about my past so make sure the whole ship knows. Nathaniel Drake Wolfert, the Butcher of Torfan grew up running with a gang, joined the military to escape said gang, then when he returns home to settle down with his future wife, said gang hunts him down for revenge gets his future wife, who also happened to be pregnant with his fucking kid, killed because he couldn't accept that things were too much for him and just move the **hell** away! No, his stubborn pride got in the way and because of that, not only did she die, but his father in every way but blood died too trying to pull his ass out of the fire. So now that I've said my piece, why don't you take a turn and spill **your** guts out in front of everyone instead of giving that bullshit excuse of an abridged story that you did." I stared into the woman's eyes. "Because it seems pretty fucking obvious to me that I'm not the only N7 on this ship that's broken."

Right about then, the voice of our pilot crackled over the loudspeaker. "To those members of the ground team flying Joker Airlines, our very own Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard has requested you all to meet him in the communications room for a pre-mission debriefing." Usually I kinda liked Joker's little comedy bits but right now, I was not having any of it. "That's all for today so please enjoy your complimentary mid-flight snack and keep an eye out for killer robots as we touch down."

"Thank Christ." I kicked myself into gear, not bothering to look at anyone else in the room. "I really need to fucking shoot something right now."

 **A/N: I'm currently about to rush off to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding so not much to say but I hope everybody has an awesome weekend!**

 **Thanks goes once again to my beta, Ranger Station Charlie who edited this and made some excellent tweaks.**

 **Review Answering Portion:**

 **RSC: Glad you liked it, I was thinking for a while about how I wanted to go about the "Numb" thing and that was the most reasonable way I could think to implement it without going too over the top.**

 **BroCapShep: Hahaha, well considering Wolf's weakness in that area I think that's a pretty safe bet that he'll say yes to most things.**

 **GJD: Thanks! The Mako was really the only part of ME1 that frustrated me so I didn't really see the point of writing about it once I had my way with things. Circling around a giant worm and shooting it for a couple minutes was pretty boring for me too so I kind of wanted to go an alternate route with it.**


	14. Night Raid

"So." I took a seat in a conference room chair, crossing my arms behind my head and leaning back. "Who's on my fireteam? The sooner we get this thing going the better in my book."

"Agreed." Chelsea plopped down on the other side of the room, noticeably avoiding eye contact which I was just fine with. While the sensible part of my brain realized that after two years of having my past bottled up sharing it would be the only way to ever get any peace, while the other half was annoyed beyond belief at having the hurtful baggage brought to the surface again. "How do you want to do this bro?" Chelsea stated glancing over to Caleb.

"Well since we are still without a Mako, we will be doing an insertion via airdrop at each of the three locations we know the enemy is holed up at." A little holographic planet appeared, highlighted with three bright red dots that I'm assuming were our targets. "The Normandy will be coming in extremely low and using the natural terrain in an attempt to avoid any sort of scanners they might have in place, combine that with the Normandy's stealth capabilities and we should be able to drop right on top of them."

"Which will be a nice change of pace for once." Mitch fingered his omni-tool, as if he was already savoring the opportunity to sneak around using that little tactical cloak of his. "It seems like we've been late to things every time so far and have to play catch up."

"And that's why we're going to pounce at this point here before they even know what's happening." Caleb gave a few little gestures with his wrist and a new picture popped up with readouts of our current roster in a sort of list.

"For those of you who are optically challenged, I'll read out the list that just appeared." Chelsea stood up and started pacing the room. "Alpha Team is going to be led by bro over here and with him will be Ashley and Tali." The two ladies just nodded, choosing to stay silent and let her continue. "Bravo Team will be led by yours truly and the lucky folks that get to assist me are the LT over here along with the lovely Ms. T'Soni." The asari just blushed at the compliment and Mitch leaned forward, obviously pleased with the arrangements. "And if anyone can't do math, that leaves four for the last team which will consist of Garrus, Wolf, and Wrex along with Corporal Jenkins himself who volunteered to lead the third fireteam on this mission."

Well, that's surprising to hear. The big kid had always been a solid ground pounder in my opinion so it's good to see him stepping up and taking a leadership role. Plus, putting him with three squadmates fully capable of handling themselves in a firefight without a ton of direction was a smart move on the Shepards' part. Putting three big brutes like the front of us together along with Garrus to provide overwatch and tech support if we needed it was more than enough firepower to make my student's first real leadership role a pretty cake one. Well, in theory at least. Things have a tendency to go haywire whenever I'm around it seems so we'll see. If anything did go wrong though he'd at least have me and Garrus to fall back on in terms of leadership roles.

"Getting back on track here." Caleb interrupted everyone's internal thought processes. "In terms of the actual means of insertion, those of you not capable of a biotic freefall will be parachuting in alongside us. The biotics should be the first ones to touch down and our responsibilities will be to lock down the immediate vicinity from any possible hostiles while the rest do their part to try and aid them."

As the Alliance tech expert on the ship, Mitch put in his two cents. "From the second we leave the ship, there will be no radio communications between teams as the element of stealth could be much more easily compromised if the enemy is keeping an ear out. Local channels should be fine but any broadcast larger than that and we run the risk of this whole thing being discovered before we're ready which will make the last two teams' jobs that much tougher since they'll be coming under fire the whole way down."

I pulled my hands out from where they had been supporting my head and raised my right one. "That makes sense to me but how are we going to signal once we've managed to capture a base, or radio in that we're getting plastered or something along those lines?"

"We do have a contingent of Marines here onboard just in case things go extremely poorly, however the response time is not going to be as fast as ordinary so it's better to call it earlier than later. Which you will do by broadcasting a signal out to the Normandy of a single short click, a pause, then three long clicks." The commander paused and rubbed his light blond stubble absentmindedly. "Obviously there is a slight risk but with no words present to be intercepted by enemy technicians, we've lessened it as much as we can."

"Gotcha." I looked over to Wrex and gave a little finger gun. "I mean, I'm not worried about it since the big guy's just gonna carry us all on his back if things go bad, but I figured it'd be good for the rest of you to know."

"Damn right." Wrex's voice rumbled out from his chest. "These whelps will be just fine as long as they hide behind me Shepard, that place is as good as ours already."

"And once that's done, you just give a little-" Chelsea touched the headset in her helmet which was laying close by and gave a quick pattern of two longs, a short, then another long. Yeah I'd probably better jot this stuff down. I'm sure Garrus has got all this stuff memorized because well he's a turian and he's also Garrus, but I'm not counting on the other two to remember for vastly different reasons. Wrex because giving out radio signals didn't involve shooting something in the face with a shotgun and the corporal because I've worked with him in the past and let's just say memory's not his strong point.

"How long can we expect until the first team makes the jump?" The chief raised a hand and posed a quick little question.

"Within the hour." Caleb looked around the room. "Which gives teams Bravo and Charlie a bit more time but still, I would like all of you to be ready at the time of the first jump, just in case something goes wrong unexpectedly."

"Any questions?" Chelsea stood up abruptly from her seat. "Good. Everybody move into the armory and suit up then."

I sat down and waited as the rest of the team filed out. With as many people as there was heading down in the elevator, we'd have to make two trips anyway so there's no need to rush. Eventually it was just me and Caleb left. It was kind of his tradition I'd noticed to be the first in and last out whenever something like this was going on which I guess was pretty appropriate considering his position.

"You seem a bit terser than usual Wolf. Think this was probably the first time that you haven't interrupted one of these things with your usual level of banter." The commander smiled genuinely as he lowered a hand and pulled me up to my feet from my seated position, giving me a clap on the shoulder as he did so. "Anything I need to know about before we head down there?"

My head wagged from side to side. "Nah." I suddenly thought better and decided to at least give a little tidbit. "Well yeah I guess, but it can wait until afterwards. Just some personal shit that Chels made me drag up to the surface that I would have rather remained where it was."

"She's pretty good at that." The statuesque blonde scratched behind his ear knowingly as he gave a sheepish grin of his own. "Trust me when I say she has the best of intentions, Chelsea's the reason I'm able to carry on the way I have been." He snapped his head up to attention, letting his professional face snap back in place. "You'll be good at least for the mission though?"

"Of course Shepard." I warped my face in a kind of sideways smirk. "Trust me when I say I'm one of the best at burying my own shit pretty deep when there's a job to be done."

I could have sworn he whispered something along the lines of, "you have no idea," but since he didn't make any more comments afterwards I decided to just leave it alone. "Anyways, this will be the corporal's first real experience as a fireteam leader so if you can just support him out there as best you can, I'd consider it a personal favor."

"Done." I gave a thumbs up and a cheesy little smile to relieve the stressed atmosphere. "Kid's gonna be just fine. I'll make sure that he's still in control but if he needs it, I'm fully capable of giving him a little kick in the right direction."

"Perfect, that's what I needed to hear. With as fragile as this operation is I'd like to make sure that everyone on our ground team is capable of leading an op if necessary." He pointed towards the door, indicating that our conversation was done. "Go kick some ass down there Wolfert."

"Wow, what was that you said right there? It's just that it sounded very un-Commander Shepard like." I faked a surprised look before clapping him on the shoulder, leaving the man who almost literally had the galaxy on his shoulders with a few words to think about. "You do know that nobody's gonna respect you any less if you're not Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard, Lion of Elysium and poster boy of humanity one-hundred percent of the time. That guy back on Therum who absolutely wrecked shop with me and was loose the whole time was pretty awe-inspiring too. I personally wouldn't mind fighting side-by-side with that guy again."

"That so?" He looked like he was actually pondering what I had just said which surprised me a little bit. Frankly I surprised myself with my own words so I guess it's not much of a shock there.

"Yeah." I quickly made my exit into the elevator, apologizing as I did so with a little informal salute. "Sorry, didn't mean to preach, good luck down there Shep."

The only person to join me in the elevator was Mitch, which shouldn't surprise me. I'm guessing he picked up on my mood change as well. "I take it you and Lady Shep had a little spat from your body languages coming into that room."

"That obvious huh?"

"Well that and the fact that half of the people in there were just looking back and forth between you two kind of tipped me off to the whole thing." He hopped off the railing which he had previously been reclining against. "What went down if you don't mind me asking?"

"She started digging into my past and I got pissy." I gave a little shrug. There wasn't much I could hide from Mitch since we'd spent five years living together off and on so I didn't feel like bothering. Plus he already knew everything. Well, almost everything, my latest Cerberus involvements as Operative Dolos were something that had to remain on the down low until I could turn that situation around.

He just gave an understanding little, "ah." Like I said, Mitch knew me better than just about anybody else still alive. "You still keeping that stuff buried then I take it?" I just nodded as the elevator doors finally opened to reveal the entire ground team in a state of half-dress between undersuit and armor. "Well, I know I've told you this a million times but getting out in the open to where you can talk about it is the only way you're ever going to quit mentally torturing yourself."

"What happened in Detroit along with everything else isn't something I want talk about to someone I barely know. Can we just get on with the mission?" I was almost pleading with him now, as if that would change anything.

"Chelsea is someone you can trust." He walked over to his armor stand and started to undress alongside me. "But alright, let's just focus on getting down there and taking care of business."

"That's easy for you to say." I found myself slipping back into our old, easy camaraderie of messing with each other. "You'll be down there showing off for the ladies while I'm stuck here with the Testosterone Squad." Catching Garrus eye and throwing a friendly little wink his way, I continued. "When Vakarian here is the best looking one on the fireteam, you know you've got an issue."

That actually got his mandibles to pull slightly back into what I knew to be the start of a grin from my time spent picking up on Daxy's turian body language. "Honestly, I'm not quite sure whether to punch you or thank you after that one since you put yourself down in that whole thing."

By now I was wearing only some tight fitting spandex shorts that I had kept from my old Alliance days as workout gear now. Some people were comfortable just freewheeling in their undersuit but I had never been that guy so this was what worked for me personally. "Hey if you're not able to laugh at yourself every now and then what's the point?" I unzipped the experimental undersuit I had gotten as payment from Cerberus all the way back in Detroit and stepped into it, pulling it closed after me. "I've never been one to take myself too seriously anyway."

Now that I was fully enveloped in the flexible brown exoskeleton-esque gear all the way up to the top of my neck, I started to work my way up from the bottom with my armor. "So Vakarian."

"Yeah Wolf?" He was already wearing his gear in the conference room so he had a head start on the rest of us as he was now inspecting his turian-made Phaeston assault rifle. Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure I've ever seen him out of that armor in all our time onboard the ship…odd.

"Just wondering before we go down there how many kills you think you're gonna get. I know you mentioned you've got a kill tracker installed on that high-tech visor of yours so I was just trying to set an over-under line before we get down there."

"How about this." He peered down the scope of his sniper rifle now, making small adjustments with his talons. While he tinkered with his firearm I pulled my chest piece on and Mitch fastened the straps in back which I made sure to give a thank you nod for. "I'll just say that anything that manages to slip past you out there, is mine."

"I dunno Garrus." First it was knife time, my kukri Sierra snapped into place on the sheath around my left shoulder, followed a split second later by my Talon dagger on the outside of that arm. "That sounded almost like a compliment there. What do you think Mitch?" He just gave a noncommittal grunt as he tweaked his omni-tool and I turned to my firearms now. "Either way, I'm glad to have you out there with us. I know you're a professional like myself-" He rolled his eyes ever so slightly at me lumping us together which was a very human expression he had obviously picked up on his time onboard. "Fine. Like I **used** to be back in my Marine days so this should be fun."

"I'll just say this one thing and you can take it how you will." He took a deep breath and smirked slightly. "You're not quite as much of a loose cannon as I thought you would be when we first met." My expression was quickly starting to beam at the extremely high praise from the turian. "For a bounty hunter, you're halfway competent combatant, despite your sometimes inane jabbering."

"Now that was definitely a compliment." I placed my weapons on their appropriate place with an extra little touch of triumph. "You know you're not half-bad either Vakarian. For a cop of course and you're one to talk about jabbering by the way, you don't seem to mind putting in the occasional sarcastic little comment yourself from what I've seen."

"That's where we differ you see." He had now taken a seat on the workbench, letting his long legs prop themselves up on a nearby stool as his rifle rested on his thigh. "When it comes to picking my shot, I make sure to line it up properly and then, bam," he pulled the trigger with his two fingers, "that's all it takes."

"Let me guess, and I'm some sort of light machine gun just spraying my bad humor indiscriminately. That about right?"

"You said it, not me human." He raised his hands and leaned back, before realizing that something was missing. "Spirits, I still have to grab my visor."

"So that's how it is? You just make a few insults and then get away without having to deal with the repercussions?" I grinned before pulling my Recon Hood over my face. There was a second or two of darkness and then my HUD sprang to life, showing armor integrity, shield strength and heat levels on all my weapons along with a few other little tidbits of info. "I like your style turian, I'll make extra sure to clear you a nice big open space to set up with that sniper rifle of yours once we touch down."

The big bird man gave a vicious looking grin that was lined by rows of sharp teeth. "You're too kind."

Just like that, an odd sort of grudging respect seemingly had started to cement itself between us. Now all I've gotta do is not fuck it up over the next few hours and then we might be on the way to an actual solidarity between us. That still left Williams though who was actively hovering somewhere between cold and passive-aggressively hostile which made working on the weapons maintenance with her just so much fun. Screw Chelsea for ever suggesting that we work together. Actually just screw Chelsea in general right now.

By now everybody was pretty much silent as far as the assault team went, all of us being far too busy performing double and triple checks on our equipment. Armor seals are intact, Recon Hood is fully functional, guns appear to work and knives are sharp as always, not that there was ever really even a chance of that happening with how often I tended to their respective edges.

This would've been the point in the past where Mitch just shook his head and left me alone with my toys while I finished preparations but in the crowded dock bay, the chances of no one bothering me were exactly zero as evidenced by the filtered voice that interrupted. "Are you having any problems Wolf?"

I paused running my honing tool over the pitch black kukri in my hand and looked up to see the lone quarian onboard in front of me. With a big grin, I pulled my mask back so my face was visible. Although considering who I was talking to she probably could get a read off my body language almost better with my face obscured. "I'm actually doing just peachy, how are you feeling Miss Zorah?"

"Not quite as nervous as usual actually." Well she's adjusted to this whole thing pretty quickly. Although shipboard life surrounded by men and women trained to fight kinda gets you into that mindset pretty naturally I think so I guess it's just natural. "The commander said that the people we're attacking today laid an ambush that was meant to kill whatever innocent person stumbled into it so I'm looking forward to making the bosh'tets pay." The purple-clad quarian posed a simple question. "Is that a bad thing to want?"

"Sorry Tali." Despite the serious circumstances, I couldn't help but laugh. I'm not exactly one to be in a position to preach on the subject of revenge since my wrathful side has a tendency to rear its ugly head pretty easily and indiscriminately. "If you want me to answer your question honestly, then no. I don't have any problem with wanting to personally make sure that the bad guys pay." My talking was interrupted by a bright red light that filled the room with its pulsating glow. Looks like it's go time for Alpha team, which meant Tali. "The real trick is just to make sure you know what the side you stand for represents and just how much you're willing to give."

I stood up and slid the knife home with a sharp click. "But considering these guys tried drawing us into a trap to get butchered by a thresher maw, I think this is a pretty clear cut case. So knock yourself out kiddo."

"Roger that." She adjusted the pack on her back that contained the parachute as the door slowly opened, accompanied by the sound of the commander yelling instructions over the now rushing wind. "Keelah se'lai Wolf."

"Keelah se'lai Tali." I nodded with my head towards her two fireteam members. "Keep those two safe over there."

With just a few more words, the trio jumped out of the ship and quickly disappeared into the darkness that was the sky. It's been a while since a good old night raid so this should be interesting. Although I don't think my current group is exactly suited for a silent and stealthy operation since three of the four of us were heavy hitters. Now that I think about it that does make sense that we'd go last. The commander doesn't always say what he's thinking but putting the biggest and arguably tankiest group of fighters at the tail end where our attack was already most likely to be known was a smart idea. Gotta give the man proper credit on that one.

After just a few more minutes of low flying, the second group, consisting of Fem Shep, Mitch and Liara jumped. I wonder how the first team's doing right now…they're probably just getting into range of the base since we were purposefully dropped off a little way away to try and keep the tactical advantage for as long as possible here.

We're next up I guess. I looked around to see that just Garrus, Wrex and Jenkins were present now along with a lone Marine watching over what was happening. Seconds passed by like minutes but finally, it was time to attack. Nodding sharply but with the hint of a feral grin at the corners of my mouth, I pulled the mask back over my face and stepped up to the exit. "How long can I expect to freefall here?"

"About thirty seconds sir, assuming you make it down ASAP." The Marine snapped to attention with a salute.

"I guess that'll have to do then." Tracing my finger along the doorframe, I gave a little sigh. This part was always the best. "What's your name Marine?"

"R sir." Since my features were obscured, I cocked my head. "Sorry, it's just what the guys call me. Real name's Reonard Socchi. Private First Class Socchi that is."

"I'll remember that, make sure to hold down the ship while I'm gone." My cockiness when it came to fighting was quickly coming back to me now that it was time to go out there and get shit done. "I'm counting on ya."

"We'll be just fine up here." He gave a loving little tap to his rifle. "Give 'em hell Butcher."

"Don't worry Private Socchi. I fully intend to." I whirled my head around. "We ready here corporal?"

Might as well reinforce that the kid was in charge right off the bat. Give him a little confidence shot just in case he was feeling low. "You're free to jump contractor."

I like it, the kid's all fucking business right now.

Not bothering with any more speech, I leaned slightly back, getting just the slightest bit of momentum and using my arms to push myself out of the ship. It took a split-second for me to get myself righted, but after that, I pointed myself towards the earth like a missile and shot forward. Now that I was all by my lonesome, with nothing but the barren planet approaching me, I just enjoyed the moment of calm before the storm.

As the ground grew closer and closer, I leaned back and spread my arms wide, lightening my mass as I did so. The wind's resistance grew sharper and sharper against my mass, slowing me down until I touched on the ground as light as a feather, kicking up a little dust cloud as I landed.

Quickly giving a few words over the group comm channel, I scanned the surroundings with pistol out and left hand ready to dish out biotic justice but all I saw was barren dunes. "This is Wolf, I've touched down and the perimeter appears to be clear. You three are good to join me down here."

"Roger that, making our approach now." I heard the sounds of fabric cutting through the air a little ways behind me but I didn't bother turning around, trusting them to take care of anything behind me. Two crashes could be heard next, followed by a heavy thump that made me grin. That would be Wrex. "We have successfully reached the drop zone." Jenkins moved past me, assault rifle at the ready and pointed to his left. "I'll take point, Wolf you take that side and Wrex you take the other flank."

Wrex gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he pulled out a Revenant machine gun. "And I'll provide cover from the back then?"

"Roger that Vakarian." Jenkins dropped to one knee and looked backwards at the turian, giving a little nod. "Do you have any sort of thermal imaging? If so, keep watching our immediate vicinity for any sort of an ambush. It's possible that they're aware of us already so I don't want to be taken by surprise."

"My visor does, yes." His talon moved to his omni-tool and then he was back to peering down the scope of his long-range weapon. "If anything out of the ordinary is approaching, I'll know about it first."

"I've got heat vision on my hood too, you want me to flick that on?"

Jenkins gave a little nod to me as he got back to his feet and began the approach. Right now the compound we were storming was out of sight thanks to the hilly terrain which was both great and worrying at the same time since a group of snipers could be waiting just out of sight over the next hill, waiting to attack. "Go ahead and activate it Wolf. Just keep an ear on the channel for further orders regarding it."

"Roger that corporal." My vision changed from the normal hues to a more muted one that showed the varying temperature levels of my surrounding. If anything remotely humanoid appeared, the bright red associated with its body temperature would immediately contrast the objects around which were not nearly as hot. "Thermal function activated and…I still see nothing."

"Understood." Jenkins waved his hand forward twice with sharp, precise movements. "We take this slow and steady until we reach our target destination. As soon as we crest a dune, we gather up and then Garrus checks the surroundings with his weapon." He thought for a moment. "Do you have a suppressor on that weapon?"

The turian former cop reached into a compartment on his armor, pulled out a long black tube and screwed it onto his weapon. "I do now."

"Good. Until it's completely clear that the element of surprise has been lost, it's stealth kills only, understood?" The sounds coming from Wrex were not pleased so Jenkins continued. "Which means that those of us capable of closing the distance with a biotic charge need to do so immediately and attempt to take the enemy down quietly. That means as long as you can keep it silent Wrex do what you think is best."

The krogan across from me's mood did a complete flip as a light little gravelly chuckle could be heard as background noise. "Those are orders I like. Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

"Sounds good to me too." I absentmindedly fingered the talon dagger's sheath on my arm as we crouch-ran forward to the base of the next hill. "I prefer a more personal touch."

"Garrus."

Not even needing another word from our fireteam leader, the ingrained military instincts that were pretty much beat into turians from birth took over as the alien rushed up the hill. "We've got hostiles." Fucking finally. "Five, no six, humans in full armor are patrolling the entrance to the facility. It doesn't seem like they've noticed anything and I can't confirm it but from their tense posture, I'm guessing the other fireteams have been discovered. The fact that there's also quite a large number of crates that it appears they were in the process of moving since they're accompanied by heavy machinery that they are not currently using further leads me to believe our attack has been communicated between the bases."

"Good spotting Vakarian, fall in with us." The four of us huddled at the base of the hill, us underlings just waiting for the boss to give orders. "How many can you take out before they hone in on us? With how our group is put together, there's no way we're going to keep stealth but I'd still like to get an advantage if possible."

"Two easily." The turian traced his talon along the side of his weapon. "Depending on their reaction and how quickly they duck behind cover, maybe even a third or fourth."

"And can you both cross the gap to the entrance?" Jenkins looked to the two of us Vanguard types. Wrex and I just looked at each other for a moment. Even though both of us were wearing helmets that fully covered our features, I knew and he knew that we both were grinning like all hell. What can I say, there's nothing quite like a good fight. Krogans know what's up when it comes to that kind of shit.

"Yeah." I looked back to Jenkins and rolled my head around a bit, loosening up for what was about to happen. "We've got this on lock."

"Good." He pointed up to the top of the hill. "I'm going to start running into cover as soon as Vakarian fires his first shot. At the same time I want you two to charge directly through the hill and if possible, get on the other side of their encampment up ahead. Between the long range sniper support, you two catching them in a pincer attack and me moving down, spraying constant fire just to keep them busy, these bastards won't know what hit 'em."

"Jenkins." I clapped the kid on the back. "It looks like I didn't completely fuck up your training. It's a solid plan kid."

His eyes crinkled through his visor at the praise and he nodded thanks even if he was the superior officer currently on the field due to my private contractor status. "Whenever you're ready Garrus. You have my permission to set up and open fire."

"Understood." Not wasting any time, he moved to the top of the hill and unfolded a bipod that dug into the ground easily. "I'm lined up…first shot incoming…now."

The stillness of the night sky was broken up by the sharp crack that resonated through the valley. "You with me Wrex?"

"Is that even a question Butcher?" His rumbling chuckle crackled in over the comms as Garrus fired his second shot. "Just try to keep up."

The two of us crouched for a split second before phasing through the desert dune in front of us, blowing past the startled troops in just another couple seconds. By now there were only four still standing as true to his word, Garrus had already accrued two kill shots. Now it's our turn.

Moving towards the closest trooper who had only just now spun in my direction, I closed into melee range while he was still bringing his rifle to bear. Before a burst came from his weapon, I phased ever so slightly to the left with the tiniest of biotic charges and slammed my omni-blade into the outside of his wrist, causing him to drop the firearm. As his AR slipped from his grasp and fell onto the dusty ground, I stepped in even closer, placing my M11 right under his chin then jamming the trigger twice.

I didn't even spare a look at the aftermath, knowing that at point blank, my sidearm would kill instantly with a headshot. Instead, I turned to see Wrex using his shotgun like a club to bash in the helmet of the unlucky son of a bitch in front of him. Helmets offer pretty solid protection for the most part but apparently they didn't stand up to the krogan stress test because the thing crumpled like paper. Off to the left Jenkins was casually strolling down the hill, keeping the other two soldiers pinned behind the crates they had just been transporting with a heavy stream of bullets. One of them tried to pop up and in the blink of an eye, his shields were shredded by the corporal and puffs of red mist flew from the enemy's back one after another before he fell to the ground in a bloody heap.

"Help me out here Wrex." The massive krogan lumbered over to my position, unsure of my plan. Then he saw the biotic aura that surrounded the massive metal box and grunted approvingly. "Push!"

Biotics were categorized into four general categories. First off were Reserves and to put it simply, that was just how long you could keep throwing out potent attacks. Just like any other activity, biotics take a toll on a person and a hungry or tired biotic is a weak biotic. Discrimination, which was my weakest area, regarded the finesse or control of a type of attack. The fact that my mindframe in battle was probably best described as a tranquil layer that just barely covered the rage underneath most likely had to do with my weaknesses here since it took a great level of mental strength to articulate the finer points of something like a singularity. The third, and now we were getting into my stronger points was Surge. The best way to describe that was just the amount of raw power that can be used in a quick burst. When I tried to explain it to Mitch, he just called it, "DPS," which I didn't really get but whatever. Either way I had that in spades along with the last one which was Force, the overall amount of power a biotic could give regardless of timeframe.

Basically what I'm trying to say is I might not be able to create a singularity or do some of the nifty tricks other biotics of my caliber could do, but I was strong as hell and so was the krogan next to me. That bastard on the other side of the box found that out very quickly when he was impacted with all the force of a runaway train by what had previously been a safe bit of cover for him just seconds before. It's safe to say the results weren't pretty in the slightest. God I love biotics.

It only took a few seconds after that for the three of us to make sure that all six were, "confirmed kills." Which simply meant putting a bullet or two in each of the downed fighters' brains. Yeah it wasn't pretty, but neither is seeing a comrade blasted to hell by a pirate who used his last dying breath to activate an inferno grenade.

I fired two shots through the faceplate of the last one and turned to Jenkins. "We're clear corporal."

"Roger." We stacked up on what could best be described as a large gated fortress. I couldn't exactly tell from our position outside the large gate that blocked our entrance but from the glimpses I could catch of the structures within, we were going to be doing some room by room fighting. Messy urban warfare was always the most dangerous for operators like us since you never knew what was on the other side of the door you were about to breach until it was right in front of your face. Thanks to my specialty I had seen more of this style of fighting than most and every time the sheer adrenaline rush of kicking in a door almost overwhelmed me.

"Plant those explosives Wolf."

Jenkins had found a suitable spot in the wall. Looking up the sheer concrete wall in front of us as I stuck the bomb to it, I just caught a glimpse of an open roof on the other side. Good thinking kid. Not only do we get cover, but if Garrus sets up there in a corner like this, he could provide cover for almost the entire length of the facility.

"Done. Could I give a suggestion corporal?"

He didn't even hesitate which I appreciated. "You've got it."

"Vakarian should set up on that box right there. If anybody's stupid enough to be standing on the other side of this wall, he can take them before they even know what's hit them."

Sirens had finally started to wail and shouts could now be heard over the screaming of the alarms. We need to move, being caught out in the open like this by a vastly superior force would not be good. "Garrus, do it."

The turian just gave a little nod before using his long legs to spring away at an incredible speed and place his Mantis over the top of the box. "In position." Now all that could be seen of the alien was the top of his head and his weapon.

"Blow it."

Now the real fight begins. "Lowering the boom in three, two, one…"

 **A/N: Sorry about the delay of a week everybody, I hit a deer doing 70 something on the highway and I've been having some headaches and assorted fun stuff like that after the whiplash to the point where staring at a computer screen to write/edit wasn't doable for more than a few minutes. I've got a new car and everything now though and besides the hit to my bank account I'm doing great.**

 **Question of the week: I wanted to try something new this chapter since I was also actually hoping to get some feedback from you readers out there, specifically in terms of a future love interest for Wolf. I've got a couple ideas in mind in terms of a final LI for him to be paired with but I'd love to hear if there's someone you'd like to see Wolf end up, whether it's one of the ME1 squadmates, Miranda, an OC, or someone further down the road like Jack or Kasumi. Hell, if you'd rather him just end up single and having the occasional hook up (like Miranda currently for example) then that's an option I'm willing to consider too. Either way if you had any thoughts feel free to leave it in a review or PM me, I'd definitely appreciate the feedback.**

 **Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing to Beta and provide solid feedback on whatever random thought enters my head.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Stormdragon981: Yeah I think Chels and Wolf will eventually have to arrange some sort of way to get things out into the open because with their personalities they'll just keep butting heads.**

 **Dekuton: Wolf doesn't usually go past prodding and teasing people but with something like this where a sensitive personal thing was touched on, it can draw out that fire that's usually just simmering. And I'm trying to update every other week on Friday, I just missed last one due to some unforeseen circumstances like smashing a freaking deer.**

 **GJD: Hahaha, I don't know if I'd go that far but yeah, she's kind of like that one friend who just doesn't know when to drop something.**

 **Fallout Fan: Hey thanks for the reviews man, appreciate all the constructiveness there. I went back and made that edit so thanks for that. And yeah, that last review is pretty accurate, in terms of Chelsea pressing Wolf it's more that she has a certain naive streak still when it comes to not knowing when to quit pressing on something personal because she wants to be best buds with all the shipmates (which is definitely hypocritical on the personal digging side, hence the Wolf blow-up.)**

 **Observer01: Glad you're liking it!**


	15. Time to Attack

With a resounding boom, the explosives went off and before the rubble could even stop falling, I moved into the room. "They're here in the-"

He didn't even have time to finish his sentence as I fired off three quick blasts from my semi-automatic shotgun. From this close, his shields only absorbed the first of my shots, the second one caused a spray of red to erupt from his back and the last one dropped him to the ground in a heap of bloodied armor.

My shields started to drop rapidly as a burst of gunfire impacted me and I dove sideways in a panic to get out of the way. From my position on the ground, I gave a flick of the wrist and threw the enemy skyward only for Wrex to send him hurtling back into the ground with a biotic smash.

I rolled off my back, stretched a little bit and took my position at the front next to Wrex. "Room's clear, moving to the stairs."

"Roger." Jenkins and Vakarian were right behind the two of us biotic bruisers, sweeping the room with assault rifles at the ready as they trailed just behind. "Wrex take point. We're going to find Garrus a spot that he can set up with that rifle of his to provide cover as we storm this place."

As they reaffirmed plans, for the first time I noticed the logo on the enemy armor and cursed mentally. Cerberus. Miranda's not gonna be happy about this one, I know that much already. Also, if they're the ones who instigated Akuze along with that trap on the last planet we touched down on…well let's just say that my need to keep my involvement with them a secret rose even more. And now there's even more moral issues for me to deal with too in addition to the ones I already had. I knew that they weren't, "clean," by any stretch of the imagination but this is just fucked. Chelsea can **never** find out about my little sidejob.

I fell into line right behind the krogan in crimson armor, letting him lead with that massive Claymore shotgun of his. God that thing looks like the recoil could tear my shoulder out of its damn socket. "I hear them moving upstairs." Wrex gave a quick little warning before his helmet receded into his armor. The big alien turned this way and that, audibly sniffing as he did so. I'd heard krogan's possessed improved senses when it came to smell but sniffing them out seems a bit much. "That can't be."

Moving up next to him, I put a hand on his shoulder. "We good big guy? I can take lead if something's wrong."

"I'm fine." His expression however was growing more displeased by the second, the anger and disgust clearly visible. "There's just something I need to check once we clear all these whelps out."

He looked pointedly at the corporal who just gave a little nod. "We'll be the last team the Normandy picks up so you'll have plenty of time. Let's get moving now though."

We took things level by level and room by room.

The first poor bastard ambushed us as soon as we reached the upper floor…I think my barriers took the very slightest of hits before he was instantly put down by the combined fire of me and Wrex's shotguns and the AR's of the other two. He wasn't much more than a heap of red-covered armor thanks to the destructive effects of the four of us simultaneously opening fire. "There's two rooms here, we'll breach them at the same time. Understood?"

Various grunts of assent sounded over the local team channel before, without a word, we split up into groups. Wrex and Jenkins went to the far one and I was trailed by the ex C-Sec officer. "Gimme a tap when you're ready big guy."

"Understood." He looked over his Phaeston for just a moment before giving me a quick couple pats.

"Beginning assault." The thing about modern doors is thanks to their sliding nature, the middle point is extremely weak. That was a fact that was drilled into us front liners over and over again. My old Vanguard instructor's repeated slogan of, "Warp, Warp, Warp, Throw!" sounded over in my head as I went through the motions of clearing a human sized hole in the door.

As the metal flew backwards and cleared a path for me to attack, I charged fully in, opting to embrace the chaos that it would cause. The first person in front of me wearing the gaudy Cerberus colors received a servo-enhanced frontkick to the chest that sent him stumbling into the back wall. "Move." Was the only word Garrus said but that was all that was needed as we settled into a deadly dance that came scarily easily to two people who had hardly fought side-by-side before.

I just caught a glimpse out of my peripherals of a heavily cracked faceplate as the man I had just attacked slumped to the ground behind me. Spinning to my right, I spotted a trio of soldiers that were the only other occupants in the long but narrow room that seemed to function as some sort of armory. By now though, the element of shock had worn off and I charged left with the aid of my biotics, taking cover behind a gun rack. The familiar sounds of metal pinging on metal filled my ears before I saw a device fly from Garrus' position towards the group that had now taken cover behind a few overturned tables that looked sturdy as hell and most likely were reinforced just for situations like these. Apparently Cerberus has its fair share of paranoid motherfuckers so I fit in well in that aspect.

Sticking to the back wall, a red triangle of light shone out of the explosive that Garrus had just hurled with the directed aid of his omni-tool and with it came a panicked shout from the enemy. "Grenade, move!"

That was a mistake though, it appeared that the mine was motion activated because as soon as they got up, a deafening bang rang through the room. The man in the back's chest-piece was shredded instantly by the hundreds, if not thousands of tiny little pieces of shrapnel that flew towards him, most likely killing him on the spot. His status of being slightly in the back was probably the only thing that saved his two comrades however, as his perforated body had absorbed enough of the projectiles and concussiveforce to let their personal shields do the rest of the work.

However, that didn't save them from my turian partner, who had taken the opportunity provided by the distraction to move up into a more threatening position. A steady stream of snap freezed subatomic particles flew from the turian's wrist-mounted tech launcher, instantly freezing one of the two, while the other escaped with only what appeared to be an immovable arm.

Once again, no words needed to be spoken as I charged into the more mobile of the two, leaving the other for Garrus. The operative frantically tried to reach across his body to grab the pistol which was on his hip as his assault rifle was uselessly stuck in the grasp of his frozen arm. By the time I had come out of my biotic tunnel, he had just barely raised the weapon to chest level and with a practiced movement, I ducked under the gun while simultaneously knocking his arm skyward and jamming my omni-blade into the weak spot in the armor that universally existed just under the armpit. As his breath audibly escaped his body at what was most likely his lungs being punctured, I pulled the flash-forged weapon out and delivered the killing blow via stab to the throat.

Turning, I saw that Garrus had already done his work quite efficiently, reducing the other attacker to a frozen corpse on the ground with two conspicuous bullet holes through his upper chest. "Nice work Vakarian. Was that some sort of proximity mine you threw back there?"

"You could call it that I suppose." The turian stowed the sniper on his back and pulled out a pistol which was probably better for the close quarters we were currently in. "I took your basic Alliance-made grenade and modified it heavily so that it explodes at the movement of anyone not registered as a friendly."

While at first glance that might seem like a worse thing since the remote detonation function was completely abandoned, it actually made quite a bit of sense considering who we were talking about here. "Smart. I'd bet that's an invaluable tool for a sniper who wants to perch up somewhere and have some kind of way to watch his own back without needing the usual spotter support there."

"That's exactly what I thought too. Of course, when I tried to suggest it to some of my superiors during some of our riskier engagements, they shot it down as, 'too dangerous,' or something along those lines." The two of us continued to chat casually about the ineptitude that seemed to plague a decent portion of our former superior officers as we rejoined the other two who were already waiting in the hallway.

"Holy shit Wrex." I looked up and down at the krogan whose armor looked as if a child given only red paint to work with had done a portrait. Suddenly, I wondered to myself if that armor could have been a different color altogether when he bought it because with the immensely pleased aura that was radiating from the oversized lizard, I had a feeling he wore that viscous liquid with a vicious pride. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if that was a regular thing with krogans now that I really think about it.

"What?" The Warlord just looked at me as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

I looked down for a brief moment and realized that I really had nothing that I could say because I was kinda in the same boat as far as messiness goes. That's what happens when you prefer to get up close and personal I guess. "Nothing, let's just get to the roof."

The second floor was now clear, the only things still filling the building besides the downed soldiers was a copious amount of scientific equipment along with Cerberus logos plastered basically every which way you looked. "Anybody recognize this thing?" Jenkins placed his gun up against one and gave it a little tap as we made our way back to take the last flight of stairs.

"Yeah I do." I mean, there's no harm in me giving a little bit of info here. As an N7, it's pretty plausible that in my service time I'd have crossed paths with them or at least been given a briefing at some point or another. Nobody had to know the real reason. "They're a human-centric terrorist organization, focused on, 'bettering humanity,' or whatever you'd like to call it. From what I've heard they were started shortly after First Contact," Garrus fidgeted a little at that but didn't really say anything since I didn't make a comment one way or another, "when a group of Black Ops personnel splintered away from the rank and fold to follow their own orders."

"Understood, I'm sure the commanders will have more of a debriefing when we get back but for now, let's focus on the objective since I'm pretty sure this leads to the roof." Three of us stacked up against the large sliding doors while Garrus backed off a bit, moving down enough steps so that he set himself up a little perch. "You said you heard them moving upstairs right Wrex?"

"Yeah. There was over a dozen at least."

I smirked. "Looks like we're about to test that hearing out then. Not exactly anywhere else for them to run."

Garrus spoke up as his omni-tool flashed on his arm. "I can hack the door open."

"Nah, I got this one." Opening my device, I let the hack module go to work. The irony of using a Cerberus designed piece of equipment against them was just too deliciously ironic, even if it was something as small as taking control of a door. "And…done."

"Not bad Wolfert." The turian's smirk could be heard. "And here I've been told this whole time that you're horrible with tech."

"I like to keep a few tricks up my sleeve."

"I can see that." He readjusted his rifle and eyed up on the scope. "I'm ready back here whenever you want to force this thing open."

Wrex and I both nodded at the corporal. "Do it."

With just the push of a button, the roof was in plain view and it appeared that the personnel in here had finally gotten halfway organized as I had to duck back behind the wall just to survive. Letting my shields which had dipped to a dangerously low percentage recharge, I put my Lancer out into the open and just let a few bursts go while my two front-line partners did the same. Garrus however gave a single shot from his powerful weapon before dropping back down behind the concrete in front of him. "Scoped and dropped!"

I didn't even have the time to rib the turian about his little shout as I decided now was the perfect time to get ourselves out of this damn hallway and into solid cover. "Walling it up. Stick behind me and find a good spot."

With a grunt of effort, I surged out into the open and advanced steadily forward as a violet barrier split the two sides of the building, separating us from the enemy. "Shit." I proclaimed under my breath as I saw the hail of gunfire was going to overwhelm me much too quick. Hell my Bio-Cade was already starting to grow a bit translucent. "I can't hold it, move!"

"We're fine Wolf, get to safety." A sharp rat-tat-tat from behind me forced a group of Cerberus soldiers into cover behind what looked like some kind of oversized ventilation unit. "I need you to just cause chaos right now." My ears perked up at being given the all clear from my immediate superior. "Don't engage too closely, you'll just be overwhelmed."

Feeling as good as I was, I couldn't help but make a smart little remark as I dropped the barricade and flashed away to my right, putting my back to cover as I readied my Lancer. "C'mon Jenkins, remember who taught who on Elysium." I moved my left arm out ever so slightly and activated the camera function, just waiting for the moment that the fuckers ducked into cover. "Hit 'em with a burst if you can."

"Incoming."

A booming sniper shot outright killed one of the troopers and a duo of grenades from Jenkins followed by a massive carnage shot from Wrex gave me just the opportunity I needed. "Thanks, moving up the right flank now, watch fire."

The flanging voice of our sharpshooter answered. "Roger that Wolf, give a shout if you bite off more than you can chew."

"You've been hanging around us humans too long if you're using phrases like that Garrus." I waited a split-second just to make sure that Jenkins and crew had them pinned which they certainly did. Human, turian and krogan were all pelting away with high-powered weaponry of all shapes and sizes at the metallic barrier that was the only thing keeping the enemy safe.

"Just do what you're planning to do human." A couple weeks ago it'd probably have had more of a bite to it but the slight little chuckle at the end took away the sting entirely.

Moving ever so slightly out of cover just to get a clear view of my objective, I stayed low and sped forward in a biotic blur. If I timed this right, I should be able to just about flank these fuckers and at least get off a couple assists with my biotics to the point where my teammates can finish them off. That's the plan at least. You know what they say about plans and contact with the enemy.

As I came out of the charge and tucked up against a large concrete pillar, I waited a couple breaths just to gauge the reactions. When all that I heard was a lot of loud pinging, shouts of anger and more of the regular comforting noises of battle chaos, I just grinned to myself. If they didn't know where I was, they're about to now.

It took about a half-second of scanning to isolate the leader who just happened to be berating pretty much everybody in particular. That's my target. In much less time than it would take to describe it, I had curved a lift orb smack dab into his chest, sending the overly loud prick skyward before sending him hurtling off the roof via biotic explosion as I had followed that up with a warp.

While he screamed as he descended, the eight or so soldiers that remained entrenched behind their wall turned to fire at me as I let loose a burst of my own, but not before their number was cut down by another two. In the anarchy I had sown, a trooper fell to the ground, his white chestpiece quickly becoming a stained red from the single bullet hole and another convulsed as he dropped, his body pelted on the way down by rapid machine gun fire.

I gave a final one-two-three with my weapon before deciding that it was time to get out and attack from another angle. Spinning back out of the danger zone, I heard the telltale whine of bullets whizzing by as I ran off and dove behind a large metal box that looked to house something or other, the situation being what it was I didn't really have time to look.

As I collected my breath and gave my biotics a chance to recharge, I looked to see the turian quickly set up over the top, fire off a couple rounds and then duck back into cover as he was met with a hail of gunfire. "Guess this must be a popular spot, huh Vakarian?"

"Something like that." Switching to his assault rifle, he fired off a burst and gave a vicious grin of satisfaction. "One more down."

"Well. Can't let you have all the fun." I peeked back over the top of the structure, just trying to get a grasp of the current tactical situation. "How many do they have left?"

"Four or five?" He tossed out an overload as he returned back to his place of safety. "You planning to do something about that number here in the near future or just going to sit back and watch?"

"You three are just doing such a great job, I thought why spoil the fun? Although…I would hate to be left out too." Standing straight up in the midst of the gunfire, I crouched low before hurling myself forward. "Coming straight up the fucking gut, watch yourselves."

The fire died from our side and taking the opportunity, I launched myself right into the heart of the group opposing us, which actually happened to be six meaning Garrus lied to me. An assorted collection of swears met my ears as four of the half-dozen surprised troopers hastily turned to fire at me while the other two stayed focused on trying their best to pin down my teammates which was about to be a losing prospect considering they were having a tough enough time doing that when we were outnumbered.

I let my barrier absorb the shotgun blast of the quickest one to react before I decided to return the favor with a much deadlier volley of my own that overheated my shotgun but served its purpose by eliminating one of their number. Waiting just a breath for the incoming fire that would have torn me apart, I sped forward, targeting the straggler on the far end of the group.

He didn't even have time to react as I came out of the charge practically face to face with him, omni-blade already extended and speeding towards his throat. All it took was a single stab forward and as he fell to the ground clutching his neck, another loud yell met my ears. "For fuck's sake, take him down now!"

At that, the whole group turned to fire at me which was a huge mistake. With a grim but satisfied smile, I disappeared from their vision leaving only faint blue aftereffects, but not before I saw one fly upward in a biotic aura, only to be cut down a second later from combined fire from Jenkins and Vakarian. "Good work, retreat to cover Wolf."

"You read my mind corporal." I phased in next to the young man and turned to him with my head cocked to the side as I pulled my Lancer off my back. "How was that for a distraction?"

Garrus couldn't help but cut in. "Four out of ten."

"I would have killed them all." And that would be Wrex.

"Fuck you guys." I shifted my upper body into firing position and laid down a burst of fire at a Cerberus commando trying to sneak around the flank I had previously used to attack. The torrent didn't cause any serious damage but I must have hit him enough to rethink things because he quickly scurried back. Not gonna fucking happen buddy, that works a lot better when you can practically teleport across the whole thing in one go. "We've got one trying to move around the side Vakarian."

"Yeah I've got him." The turian replied in a voice that I recognized very well. Even across species there was a certain tone that professional snipers like him and Mitch possessed that let you know without even saying a thing that they were currently sighting in on someone who was about to be a whole lot deader very soon. His Mantis booming out a single shot confirmed what I already knew was happening. "He won't be a problem."

I held my fingers aloft in the air as I looked at my teammates. "That means they're down to three." Switching to my Mattock, I looked through the slightly magnified scope and started to pepper everywhere that I saw the telltale glint of armor, switching from target to target once I saw the twitching of an antsy soldier. "Tri-attack?"

"Tri-attack." Jenkins nodded and barked out orders over the communications channel. "I'm going center, Garrus just keep hurling shots downrange."

"About time." Wrex gave a guttural growl as he switched to his oversized shotgun. "Let's crush these whelps' skulls."

"Roger that big guy."

I took out my own shotgun and did a little roadie run off to the left as he went the other way. Taking full advantage of his heavy armor and massive shield strength, my former pupil stood straight up and just started firing away with his Revenant machine gun. Once or twice as I moved up, I saw one of the terrorists try to return fire but as soon as he did, a vicious spray of deadly metal was directed his way, forcing him into cover. The usual strategy of waiting for the heat sinks to need a rest would have worked nicely for them, except for the C-Sec detective that was waiting in the wings.

As Jenkins' stream lessened, their confidence grew enough for one of them to yell out a, "return fire!" The screaming bastard was lucky that he shifted at the last second into a better firing position because the sniper round that was aimed center mass only grazed his side instead of putting him down for the count. Well, I guess he wasn't really that lucky because it was right around then that me and Wrex fully closed the trap that had been sprung, circling in on the three beleaguered men, one of whom had just been wounded.

Without a word between us, I hurled a lift at the one closest to Wrex and as the man went airborne, my krogan ally finished him off with the devastating force that came with a biotic charge from someone of his mass. The other two managed to stay mostly upright in the combo detonation that followed the chain of attacks but it would have taken active mag-boots to fully stay locked upright which meant that their prospects were looking even worse than before.

The second one to meet his maker was set-up by Wrex this time. With just the littlest forward push of his hand, a biotic orb hurtled into the last man who had managed to stay clean for this entire fight, sending him soaring backwards toward me. Opting to finish him quickly, I threw my arm downward and slammed the man into the ground as the sounds of ceramic plating shattering filled the rooftop. As his armored body ricocheted off the hard surface, I eased my pistol from my hip and fired three shots through his chest that definitely finished the job.

"Take the last one alive!"

A shout from Jenkins interrupted the din of battle, but I was already in motion. I don't know how interconnected Cerberus is in terms of the left arm knowing what the right is doing, but I am taking no chances.

As the already injured extremist struggled to pull his sidearm out, I closed the gap and stomped down on his arm, completely disarming him. From there it was a simple matter of pulling the trigger until the weapon overheated.

It only took a few seconds for the two of us flankers to be joined by the rest of the team. "Damn it Wolf! I said to take him in for questioning." Jenkins tucked his weapon away with a sigh as he covered his face. "It would have been nice to have someone alive to answer for what's going on here."

Opting to just go for a veil of obfuscating ignorance, I scratched at the back of my head. "Sorry Jenkins, I was just already moving in at that point. It's hard to stop myself once I get moving with that particular intent, my instincts kind of took over and by the time I realized what you were saying it was much too late."

Whatever he was going to reply was interrupted by an explosion coming from inside the building. "That would be my proximity mine." Ah, that little device set up by our turian friend is already coming in pretty handy. "It looks like it's our turn to play defense."

I looked over the side. "Unless we jump."

That got everyone's attention.

"I'm not a fan of running from the enemy Wolfert." Wrex growled out.

"Don't think of it as running then." I hurriedly gave my plan. "While they're chasing us here we get a head start, take out their control center and throw them into a panic. We do this right and they become completely disorganized then we can roll through whatever Cerberus manages to coordinate to throw at us."

Jenkins didn't hesitate. "I like it. Let's go."

Garrus and Wrex looked at each other for a moment. "If you think I'm letting the turian anywhere near my back, you're dead wrong. I'd probably find a knife in it by the time we touch ground."

"It's settled then."

Garrus stepped up right behind me and Jenkins did the same for Wrex. Any conversation was cut short as the roof now swarmed with soldiers, rifles blaring out as they joined us.

"When I tap you, roll off!" Was the last thing I screamed as the former cop and I fell down in a heavy bundle from the building. Unlike a high altitude jump, this one required immediate biotic activation and as we gently floated downwards, I gave the signal right about at ten to fifteen feet or so. The fall would be jarring but if he moved correctly, there'd be nothing to worry about.

My fears were quickly assuaged as the blue armored sniper somersaulted perfectly as he fell, coming up to one knee in a battle position with his weapon of choice held aloft as he did so. Now it was my turn. Once I got low enough, I started to let my mass return feet first, allowing them to touch down first as the four of us all landed safely.

Jenkins however took no time to celebrate the coordinated landing that went off without incident. "Move! We've only got the time it takes for them to leave the building to trash as much as we can and find a defensible position."

"Roger that." I zoomed to the front of the pack in a matter of seconds, being the only one in the group who wasn't wearing heavy armor besides Garrus who fell naturally into his position in the rear of the group where he could best provide support. "I'm seeing what looks like a tower on this building in front of us."

Up ahead was a concrete bunker. It didn't go up a few stories like the other ones but it was clearly meant to withstand an airstrike and that meant who knew how many levels it went into the earth.

"That's our target then." Jenkins gave a nod of affirmation as bullets simultaneously started to strike the dirt around us and occasionally the hissing of a shield could be heard as well. A skeleton crew of just two soldiers stood watch at the door, which was just bad form. If you're going to launch an all-out attack then it's better to not leave guards that just scream, "here's where we don't want you to attack."

"Wolf you're free to engage."

"You know, I could get used to you being in charge kid."

I crossed the gap in the blink of an eye and came out of my charge staring at the barrel of a shotgun. As his finger quickly depressed on the trigger, the only thing that happened was an electric charge shorting out his gun. Realizing what had happened in the blink of an eye, I stuck to my knives and biotics, using the latter to pull him stumbling towards me with my left hand as I simultaneously stabbed forward with the talon dagger in my right. As the warpfire-imbued weapon sliced through his chest piece like hot butter, I brought up the weapon and continued the motion, leaving a fine red line through the center of his gold-tinted armor.

The second soldier had by now closed with me and threw a biotically infused kick that threw me backwards onto my back. My instincts took over at that point as I rolled to the right, dodging a bright blue armored foot that dented in the earth around it from sheer force. Seizing the opportunity as what was supposed to be a heavy blow meant to cave my head in missed, I activated my omni-blade and let the bright orange knife slice through the bottom of his leg as it whipped out from the hardware on my wrist.

As he grunted in pain and went down to one knee, I quickly scrambled to my feet and with an open palm, grabbed his helmet to throw him fully on his back. The last thing he probably saw through his visor was my hand glowing a bright blue before the concussive blast of ionized charges that I called a Palm Crush tore through his last line of defense.

As the trio stacked up on the door, Wrex already preparing a heavy biotic attack to break it down, I turned to the turian. "Thanks for the assist, that shotgun could have done some damage at that range. My barriers are strong but that would have been touch and go."

"I figured that you being without your guns wouldn't be much of an issue compared to those two losing them so I sent out a quick sabotage. Glad you recognized what was happening immediately." He pointed down to my firearms. "It was just a temporary one so your weapons should be fine in another ten seconds or so." His lower mandible fluttered as Wrex blasted the door down and a large cloud of debris moved forward. "Your chest though…I'm not as sure about."

Looking down, I noticed that the red tinted wolf on my armor had a conspicuous dent just above his snout. And that was when I intently studied at the medical readouts in the lower right corner of my HUD. "Yeah it's not pretty." Armor scans weren't a perfect science but at least cracked ribs could definitely be assumed from the orange readout around my chest region. "I'll ride the medi-gel high until this is over and then have Chakwas look at it."

"Garrus, do you have more of those mines?" Jenkins whirled around to look at the turian sniper who quickly brought up his omni-tool and flew through combat applications to find what he was looking for before giving a nod. "Good, set them up as we go in, I'd like to have a heads-up so we have time to prepare for the enemy."

"Plus it'll slow them down a bit if they have to scan for traps." I gave a start as I took in Jenkins' appearance for the first time. "Jenkins you're fucking hit."

The corporal looked down at his chest and sure enough, the lower right side of his armor had a noticeable black dot in it. "Huh. I guess I am. With all the medi-gel and adrenaline I guess I didn't even notice in the moment."

Didn't even notice? I swear it's like someone took all of his positive attributes and just dumped them right into physicality with just enough combat tactical awareness. That last one only showed up after some intensive coaching too so I would hate to see what he would have been if I hadn't coached him up on having at least the basic tactics down. "Jenkins, sit down so I can make sure you're not going to pass out from blood loss."

"Fine, Wrex and Garrus, can you clean this place up?"

The two nodded as Garrus spoke for the both of them. "I'll keep an eye out for any sort of long-range communications equipment and make sure to keep enough explosives handy to disable it."

"And if he can't then I've always got this baby." Wrex gave a pat to the shotgun that he cradled in his arms.

As the unlikely duo moved deeper into the fortress, I opened up a medical advisor app on my omni-tool and let it scan the area as I just shook my head. "Shit kid, how the hell do you not notice that you've been shot until someone points out that you're bleeding out of the side of your stomach?"

"I…don't know?" He just shrugged as he let me go to work while he sat on a desk, rifle held aloft just in case of a few stragglers. "Once the fighting starts I just get so wrapped up in all the adrenaline and that's all I think about. I guess I just block everything else out in the moment."

Rapid fire from a machine gun burst out from below us, interrupted by the loud barking of a shotgun. I instantly went to the comms as I held up a finger, telling Jenkins not to move. "You two alright?"

"We're fine." The gravelly voice that answered gave the identity away in a moment. "Just a few whelps skulking around down here who were too scared to come up and fight with the rest of their little friends."

"Roger that." I put a hand against the excitable corporal's chest as he tried to physically get up and into the action. "I'm about done with Richard here," I looked up pointedly at my fireteam leader, "as long as he doesn't move, so we'll be joining you guys in just a second."

"Sure. Not like we need the help though."

Well, Wrex is just going to be Wrex I guess. "Roger that, still think it's better if we stay together though. Anything changes you raise me or the corporal on the comms ASAP." The only thing I got back was a grunt. Yeah, that seems about right.

With that out of the way, I turned to the toe-tapping oversized kid next to me who had taken his helmet off and was fiddling with that too as I worked on sealing everything up properly. "Alright look, your onboard VI did most of the work sealing up the wound so I put an extra layer over the top just in case it doesn't adhere due to all your moving around. In addition to that I tried my best to close up your armor's hole with omni-gel. It's not gonna take a direct hit but your armor integrity should be slightly less compromised and you won't have to worry about oxygen intake instantly if something goes wrong on the shuttle."

"So I'm good to go?"

"Yeah." I stood up and sighed…I'm ninety percent sure he didn't catch a word of that. Fucking kids these days. You go through all the trouble of making sure they can hold their own in a fight and then the minute they're on their own, they just do their own thing. "You're good to go Corporal Jenkins."

"Alright! Let's move!" He practically jumped off the furniture and sprinted into the lower regions of the bunker.

"You do realize they've already cleared everybody out at this point right?" Shaking my head, I loped away, trailing just a few paces behind the young man in heavy armor. It only took about thirty seconds after that to wind our way through the brightly lit hallways, it was easy enough to tell which way to go thanks to the bodies that were interspersed fairly liberally. From there it was a simple matter of following the trail of red until we found Wrex standing over a mutilated mess of electronics, shotgun still in hand. "I uh, see you guys have found the central hub."

"It's all been disabled." Garrus stepped back and examined the still smoking wreck that was in front of us. "Any communications between the different bases will be disrupted by this, making everyone's jobs just a bit easier."

"Except for ours of course." A nearby explosion could be heard coming from the general vicinity of where we had just come from. "What perfect timing." I turned to Jenkins and gave a little upward tilt of the head to acknowledge him. "Where we setting up our defenses corporal? I'm assuming that was one of Garrus' proximity mines that just went off so they'll be taking it a bit slower to check for traps going forward but we still don't have much time."

He looked around the room we were in. Double-wide doors opened up into a long corridor that exited here but other than that, not much remained except for a few metal-reinforced tables and boxes that probably contained equipment of some kind stacked up on a raised platform in the back that was where their device had just been sitting.

"I say we just stack up here." He pointed to the long hallway that was fairly devoid of cover besides a couple doorways that led into dead-end rooms that we had already cleared out. "Garrus can set up in the back with his sniper and the three of us can sit up front and just let them funnel right into our killzone."

"That works for me." Garrus tucked his pistol onto his hip and pulled out his heavily customized Mantis sniper rifle before walking a few steps over and laying it across the top of a crate. "Their numbers won't come into play if only three or four of them can fire on us at a time."

"Wrex?" Our fireteam leader turned to the still silent Battlemaster who just shrugged.

"I just say charge them and be done with it but if you want to hole up here like pyjaks in their den, I'll do it. I don't like it though."

"Understood." He pointed around to some of the tables. "Let's rearrange these a bit."

I activated my biotics and picked up the first with a grunt of effort as Wrex joined in a short moment later. Our combined strength was more than enough to move it across the room and from there Jenkins grabbed the table in mid-air, spinning it so the legs faced backwards. We now had one object of cover but considering that there was Jenkins in heavy armor, Wrex who was a krogan and then all of my six-foot two, two-hundred twenty-five pounds another one would be needed.

We were right in the process of laying the second table parallel to the entrance and slightly staggered off to the side when Garrus gave a loud warning shout as his weapon simultaneously did the same. "We've got company!"

"This is it boys!" I gave a last push with my biotics before hurling myself behind the first table. In one fluid motion I pulled my mask up so my mouth was revealed and downed a nutrient smoothie in one big gulp. Considering the fact that we were now basically going to be completely under siege and heavily outnumbered somewhere between six and eight to one from the estimates in debriefing, I was going to need every last ounce of strength I had in me. Pulling my Recon Hood back fully over my face, I snagged my Mattock and peered down the scope before depressing the trigger in a quick, one-two-three assault that thanks to a burst from Jenkins own weapon, downed the second incoming soldier as he clutched his bleeding chest before falling to the ground. "We hold the line here!"

 **A/N: Thanks to all you guys who reviewed the last chapter, the absolutely huge amount of advice was extremely appreciated. Obviously I love writing this and would continue to do so no matter the amount of reviews but hearing from you guys who take the time to read this is one of the things that really spurs me on to do better so thanks again to all you guys who gave feedback.**

 **Question of the week: So for this one, I was wondering what you guys would like to see in terms of adding something to Wolf's combat arsenal. My Beta and I have a few things in the works already but I'd love to hear from you guys in particular to get a fresh take. It doesn't necessarily even have to be a canon ability either, if you've got an improvised biotic technique in mind, a new weapon, or even some kind of tech skill I'd love to hear it so either leave a review or PM me with your ideas.**

 **Thanks again to Ranger Station Charlie for still Beta'ing and doing an awesome job of it.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Worf359: Thanks for the kind words! Yeah I'm with you there. I think while Jack would be fun, I agree that those two are basically a ticking biotically infused time bomb.**

 **Observer01: Writing Jenkins has been pretty fun, I like him and Wolf's interactions so expect to see more usefulness from him in the future!**

 **Dekuton: My bad, I didn't mean to say it was a bad thing either. I think it'll be good in the long run for those two to get things out in the open to know where each other stand. And thanks for the advice man, it's really Jenkins first time stepping into the spotlight so expect some growing pains but he's got a lot of potential going forward. Thanks for the LI advice!**

 **Khaine: Good analysis of the potential LI's, I definitely agree with you on almost all of that so we'll see how it ends up ;)**

 **Charlie: Hey it's all good man, you left a lot of good advice there. And I can understand where you're coming from with the Miranda angle, I still feel that I'm a little weak when it comes to writing relationships which is why I'm asking for advice here from some of the other folks here on the site. Thanks for the review!**

 **RSC: It was a big-ass doe. Straight up killed it too since I was doing like 70+ MPH. And don't worry about tone changes or anything, you're pretty much batting a thousand when it comes to correcting me on chapter issues.**

 **Gryfita: Thanks for the kind words! I'll definitely take those two into account.**

 **BritDK: Thanks buddy, glad you're enjoying it! Those two are definitely ones that I'm leaning towards a bit more so I appreciate the input.**

 **FalloutFan: Thanks for the input and well wishes in terms of health, I'm finally back to one-hundred percent which is awesome. Headaches are so annoying to deal with so I'm glad that whole thing's behind me. Samara's actually kind of an interesting one to analyze that I haven't really thought about, if she could put up with his BS and not try to kill him, her calmness would balance him out pretty well along with the loss of family like you said. We'll see though, there's still a long ways to go story wise until then.**

 **Blaze1992: That would definitely be a yes to both of your questions. The ME1 timeline will not have a heavy focus on OC's (besides Wolf and Mitch) but the interim between 1 and 2 will be a primarily non-canon cast. While my Beta and I have collaborated to fill out most of the important slots, if you or any other reader had OC's to submit they'd definitely be takin into consideration for use. No promises that they'll be used but I'm definitely open to the idea.**


	16. Defend this House

A heavy influx of gunfire came my way and I tucked in behind the makeshift cover we had just moved into place. "Some suppressive fire would be nice." I peeked my head up only for my barriers to take a sudden beating and then decided to stay down. Grabbing my Lancer from my back, I braced it against the table and just blindfired into the corridor. "Can't do much if I get killed the second I pop up."

"Bah." Wrex meanwhile was tanking fire like the fucking beast of a being that he was, letting shots bounce off his armor and regenerating against any wounds from bullets that managed to pierce his heavy armor. He swept his Revenant machine gun from one side of the hallway to the other and sent the Cerberus personnel scurrying into the neighboring rooms where they were momentarily safe. "This is nothing."

Seizing my chance, I stood tall and heaved a pull orb down the hallway, catching the first bastard that felt confident enough to appear. After that I waited until he slowly drifted past one of the doorways and finished the combo with a warp. A loud burst of heavy cursing could be heard and I grinned at hearing my little attack worked so well.

"Way to hold it down team." Jenkins now took his turn at the front as he took out a Lancer of his own and started spraying at anyone dumb enough to pop out. "Keep managing heat levels like this and shout it out if you need a breather."

"Roger that corporal."

"Wolf duck down for a second." As I followed the order from the turian, an electric attack flew over my head and slammed head-on into a heavily armored trooper. With his shields now down, the man was cut down by the combined fire from the other three of us in less than a second.

In the short amount of time that Cerberus had started to attack our entrenched position, we had already made them pay severely and I noticed that the ones that had ducked into the side rooms were not too keen on making a reappearance. Well if they were too scared to bring the fight to us, then I guess I'd better take this opportunity and make sure they don't miss out on all the fun.

"Permission to clear out the room on the right Jenkins?"

"Granted." He pulled the trigger in bursts of about a half-dozen shots, making sure to keep his weapon from overheating as he turned to me and nodded. "You get overwhelmed pull back out and give us a warning so we don't hit you."

"Roger that." Pulling my pistol from my back, I biotically passed through the wall in front of me only to find a group of three soldiers huddled around the wall with what I quickly recognized as breaching charges.

Even though I was outnumbered the advantage was completely mine as only one of the three even had a weapon in hand, the other two being too busy affixing the explosive to the wall in front of him. Well at least that makes target prioritization pretty easy.

The armed one only managed to get off a couple rounds from his rifle before I was in close-quarters range. As I ran towards him he let his rifle drop and I had to duck low to avoid the twin omni-blades that were fast approaching my neck. With both his arms fully extended though, that left a huge gap in his defense which I exploited by placing the pistol right underneath his helmet and jamming the trigger three times in quick succession.

As I turned, every bone in my body screamed to throw myself sideways and the reason for that didn't take long as a pulsating orb of warpfire was burning its way towards my chest. Still, I didn't manage to completely avoid or absorb the attack as it ate through my barriers in a heartbeat and charred the left leg piece of my armor.

Cursing under my breath, I caught the biotic with a warp of my own that devastated his own defenses before pinning him in a charge that slammed him into the wall with a resounding crack. The only one that was left scrambled backwards and fired off a few blasts from his shotgun but I just let my barriers which had finally recharged take the blow and returned his blow by hoisting his fallen comrade and launching him as a literal human projectile. The full brunt of the speeding person in armor was borne by solely the Cerberus trooper's neck and with a loud snap, he fell back dead.

Once the room was clear an idea struck me and I grabbed the explosives. I let my omni-tool's hacking program go to work and within just a few seconds, the device was mine to program as I wished. Let's go with uh…six seconds. That should be plenty of time. "Hold fire down the center corridor for three seconds." Trusting my team to do as I'd asked, I clutched the bombs that they had just been trying to blow the wall down with and sped right into the heart of the Cerberus grouping of a dozen plus fighters that remained at the end of the hallway, trying their best to find some way to bring their superior numbers to bear against us.

At seeing a blood-covered, bomb-wielding, clearly hostile soldier appear out of nowhere in front of them, the Cerberus team practically crapped themselves trying to shoot me down without hitting each other in the process. While they were doing that, I hurled the bomb into the mix of them, yelling as I did so. "Hey your pals left this in the other room!" Wasting no more time, I charged out of there as a deafening chorus of machine gun fire that reached a crescendo with the charges detonating signaled my return to the team.

"Wolf what the hell was that!" The helmet of one Corporal Richard L. Jenkins turned to me in confusion, allowing himself a light break as my attack had halted the onslaught dead in its tracks. Well, temporarily at least.

"Those guys in that room had a charge they were going to use to blow through the wall so I returned it to them."

The rumbling laugh of Wrex gave its full approval at my methods and Garrus even chimed in with a chuckle. "Using their own weapons against them, I wish I could have seen those pyjaks panic."

"Speaking of, we probably should check the guys in the other room though just in case they-" My sentence was interrupted as a sizable hole that would easily allow a couple fully armored soldiers to pass through appeared, the explosion which caused it fully showering us with a storm of rocks and debris. "What I was trying to say is just in case they have more explosives with them."

Just like that the assault was renewed in full as Cerberus now had us in a slight little pincer that could turn very deadly if we let it happen. With only four of us we didn't exactly have the firepower to repel a strong force coming from two different avenues of attack.

"Shit!" Before the dust even settled, a chorus of heavy fire came from the newfound entrance into our defenses which caused our fireteam leader to let loose a string of curses as he attempted to return fire so we weren't overwhelmed right off the bat. "We need to counter now!"

I didn't even have the chance to suggest anything as the Battlemaster with centuries of combat experience chuckled darkly. "I'll take care of that, you three just keep them from hitting me in the ass." Without another word, I watched as the krogan vaulted over our hastily improvised cover and waded through the storm of bullets, barrier pulsating with each projectile as he strode confidently forward, blasting away with his shotgun the whole time. As he got closer and closer to the group of Cerberus personnel trying like hell to bring him down, their discomfort visibly increased exponentially until it reached a state of near panic.

"It's one krogan, focus fire and switch to incendiary rounds to bring that lizard down!" The leader of the four tried to stem the tide that was Urdnot Wrex but it was all utterly in vain. One of the group tried to run to create some space for himself but quick as a cat, the muscular arm of our oldest team member ensnared him with a pull that brought him right back into his waiting arms.

With a grunt of effort, the ex-merc ensnared the trooper by the throat and picked him up like a ragdoll before going to one knee, slamming the armored man to the ground as a flare of blue exploded outwards. "Pathetic little coward." Meanwhile, the three of us who were still in the room just traded shots with the enemy in the corridor, all eyes were clearly on the enraged being tearing apart trained soldiers with ease.

The apparent leader was the next one to attack as he rushed forward pistol in hand. A biotic hue surrounded him for a brief moment as he tossed his arm upward and launched a throw orb that was summarily denied with a flick of the wrist from Wrex. Seizing the opening, the krogan picked up the pace into a loping jog and fired three blasts from his Claymore that obliterated the barriers of his opponent, the unfortunate trade off of the quick attack being that a loud red beeping was now sounding out from the overheated weapon. Instead of grabbing the pistol tucked into his belt, the red-armored krogan altered his grip on the weapon and swung the shotgun like an improvised club.

A sickening squelch signaled the end of one-half of their attempted flanking force and the other two still remaining were now in full-on panic mode. "Regroup with squad Omega now!"

The two tried to scramble away but Wrex launched himself forward in a biotic charge, putting himself between them and the door that marked their escape route towards the rest of their team. "I don't think so." Both of them held their rifles up and pulled the triggers without letting up. Wrex however just continued his determined onslaught, not even bothering to stop as dent marks and the occasional hole started appearing in his armor. Fuck…what I wouldn't give to have regenerative capabilities and redundant systems.

By the time their weapons had overheated, Wrex had closed with the first one and grabbed him by the top of the helmet before tossing him sideways into the wall. The last Cerberus soldier still on his feet was hit with a massive throw orb that flung him fully into the wall opposite where his friend now rested in a bloody and cracked heap.

All of us just stared for a brief second at what had occurred before I managed to shake myself out of my stupor. "Let's fucking go boys!" Laughing raucously, I waved my hand forward. "Press the advantage right the fuck now!" Following the example set by my squadmate, I launched over the table, followed closely by Jenkins and the both of us sprinted down the long corridor, ducking under the eventual counterfire that had begun.

An overload arced its way over our head, landed center-mass of the group and took out the shields of a couple of the remaining troopers in one debilitating blow. Seeing the opportunity right there in front of us, me and Jenkins stopped dead in our tracks and let loose. The LMG of the corporal shredded two of the defenseless soldiers instantly, their armor's defenses quickly letting up against the heavy strain. Meanwhile, I caught a third with a burst from my Lancer that hit him square in the upper torso. Even as the trooper continued to fight, a single blast from a sniper rifle signaled his end as he fell backwards, bullet hole going through the chin-piece of his helmet.

After being on the defense, it was exhilarating to be the ones punching first again and letting the combat high overtake my senses, I charged head-on into the fray. At having their defenses completely overwhelmed and then even having their counter-attack's teeth shattered thanks to the efforts of a single alien of all things, the soldiers were only able to put up an extremely minimal defense.

The first trooper I closed with stabbed almost lazily at my head and as I ducked under, my omni-blade unfurled. Before the demoralized Cerberus grunt could take a second opportunity, I buried the flash-forged weapon into his chest. The weapon must have pierced something vital as he slumped against me and taking full advantage of the opportunity as his still living comrades were now firing at me, I grabbed him under the armpit. The thing about kinetic shields is that they keep working, dead or alive, which meant that I now had a fully functioning bullet sponge propped in front of me which also meant that I could let my biotics recharge a bit as I rushed the last remaining contingent of Cerberus soldiers.

Risking a quick glance to my sides, I watched as Garrus tossed a grenade behind a barrier that sent a couple of Cerberus stooges running. From there it was a simple matter of lining up the shots and two trigger pulls later, the turian was without any targets. Jenkins was faring just about as well too. He had found his own little group of three to tangle with and as he strode determinedly forward, he switched between his rifle and LMG while simultaneously pinning each of them down whenever one tried to pop up and fire off a shot. He was content with doing that until he got close enough to pull out his shotgun and the first enemy to take advantage of the momentary lull in the fire was rewarded for his quick reaction with a carnage shot that ripped through his center-mass. The other two didn't last long after that either as the second one tried to hit Jenkins with a throw but seeing what was coming, Jenkins fiddled with his omni-tool and clamped his magnetic boots firmly to the ground. As he was recovering from his effort, the corporal fired off another three shells that ripped his barrier apart and perforated his helmet in a split-second. The last poor son of a bitch to try to tangle with the bull-like Marine was clotheslined to the ground before being on the bad end of a servo-assisted, heavy armor infused curbstomp. Gross.

In just the few seconds that it took for them to eliminate their opponents, I had closed with my own. By now my human barricade's shields had finally given out. With it, the hissing sound of shields absorbing blows was gone and replaced by the pinging of bullets ricocheting off plated armor. As I surrounded myself with a barrier, I picked up the body with my biotics and hurled him into the two combatants in front of me. While they were busy ducking under their former comrade, I had already grabbed my M11 in my right hand and the talon dagger in a reverse grip in my left.

One of them was smart enough to roll away from the incoming storm in a panic and scramble for cover but the other was just a tad too slow. Slashing upwards with the years-old gift from Daxyrus Lenril that now lit up the room with the warpfire I was channeling through it, I tore open the chest piece of the enemy like a predator pouncing onto its prey. While he fell onto his back, I leveled the weapon in my other hand at him and fired through the sizable gap that had been opened, plugging him three times in quick succession.

With only one target left, I whirled and raised a hasty bio-cade as a warp orb flew at me. "Why the fuck do I have to fight so many damn biotics today?" Opting to leave my controllable wall active, I ran at the man who now panicked, unsure of quite what to do. The helmeted thug glowed bright once again and unsure of whether or not my barricade would hold, I charged around the attack before finally reaching close-quarters range.

To give him some amount of credit, he still kept fighting despite the fact that the rest of his squad was either fully deceased or right on the doorstep. Dropping his own weapon, he channeled a blue aura into his limbs as he readied himself for whatever I was about to throw at him. Pausing mid-stride, I looked down at my weapons before eyeing him up with a smirk that kind of lost its effect thanks to the hood I was wearing. "Sorry mate but I think I'll keep these handy."

"I never would have thought the Butcher of Torfan was a coward." He opened his visor and spit, a disdainful look spreading across his face as he did so. "But what else can you expect from an alien lover who doesn't think Humanity's good enough? You betrayed us all when you just left like you did. At least your friend Woley stayed true to the cause and remained a Marine."

That stopped me dead in my tracks. "Do you actually believe even half the shit that just came out of your mouth?" I laughed loudly. "Not to mention, Mitch has such a hard-on for asari it's not even funny." My chuckle lasted for a few seconds more before I grew deadly serious, tilting my head as I studied his fighting form. "Have you ever fought an N7 before?" The biotic hue around his fists flickered slightly and he readjusted his stance. "Well today's your lucky day champ, if you last longer than five seconds I'll give you credit."

I waited for him to start to speak. "You're the one who's still talking you cocky pri-" His insult was cut short as I charged while he was distracted, swatting away the purple foot that was spinning towards my head and knocking him off balance. As he teetered backwards, still suffering from the little shove I had given him, I fired the pistol into his kneecap twice, sending him to the ground as red liquid spurted from the new hole there. While my right hand fired my pistol, the left had returned my talon dagger to a normal grip and was now moving swiftly upwards. The blade lodged itself in the top of the neck, just where it meets the chin and I kept going with it until my forward momentum carried me forward so I was over my prostrate foe on one knee.

Yanking the knife back out, I swung the blade to clean some of the blood off. "Xenophobic asshole." I continued to mutter under my breath as I turned to face my comrades. "If the rest of Cerberus is like him, I'm not sure how long I can keep this shit up." The room was now clear except for the three of us…wait, three? "Where's Wrex?"

"Coming." The krogan stumbled out of the room behind us where he had just tackled the group that had bombed it solo.

Dropping everything, I ran over to the battlemaster who was bleeding profusely. "Holy shit Wrex, why didn't you say something over the comms? You're fucking wounded to hell and back."

I opened my omni-tool and tried to dispense and slather medi-gel over the many holes that were in the krogan's armor before I was shoved backwards dismissively. "Relax Wolfert, it takes more than a few bullets to put me down for good. Besides, I wasn't going to whine like some salarian child and distract you three from the heat of the battle." He surveyed the damage as he kept himself aloft with a single hand that was propped up against the doorframe. "Heh. I see you whelps managed to hold your own without me too."

"Just because we're not all centuries old, that doesn't mean we're helpless when it comes to a brawl Wrex." The turian sniper fired a good-natured barb at the krogan who held up a single, meaty finger in response.

"Just wait until these wounds regenerate turian." A toothy yet still menacing grin showed that he was joking…well, for the most part at least. You never can be too sure when it comes to Urdnot Wrex.

"Anyway." Corporal Jenkins whirled around. "If everyone's stable…and we've killed all the Cerberus personnel…what do we do now?"

"So you're saying you don't remember how we call in a successful capture Jenkins?" I feigned a look of shock. "But you're usually just spot-on with all the little, technical details like that."

"As your commanding officer, I order you to cut the sarcasm Wolfert." Jenkins socked me in the shoulder. "I know, I know, I'm not the brightest but I'm working at it. Would you mind throwing me a bone, just this once and keeping it a little secret between the four of us?"

I sighed and looked at Garrus. "If you need a professional, grab a turian."

Our long-range expert grinned and rattled off the code. "Two longs, a short and then another long to signal that your fireteam's mission is a success."

"Thanks guys." Jenkins' pulled his helmet back over his head and started to fiddle with his omni-tool, mumbling to himself as he did so. "Two longs…a short…and…"

Grinning, I whispered under my breath. "Another long."

"Another long. And it is sent." He clapped his hands together and waggled his finger in the air. "Well let's wrap this up and head home boys."

I went to raise my hand to high-five Jenkins and then realized that my ribs were some level between badly bruised and broken then thought better of it. The fact that I was being pumped full of medi-gel right now made it a little bit hard to tell the degree of hurt that I was currently in. "Yeah. Not all of us have regenerative abilities that let us shrug shit off like nothing." The smug grin of Garrus Vakarian was now in the corner of my vision which meant that he drew my ire next. "Or sit in the back with a damn sniper rifle while the rest of us bear the heavy brunt of the fighting."

"You're right Wolf, that must be tough." The damn prick tucked his weapon on his back and just crossed his arms behind his head as we walked, grinning that stupid self-satisfied grin the whole time. "I'm just here with my nice shiny armor, completely free from any kind of damage."

"…I hate you so much right now."

All further banter was shelved as the voice of Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard blared in our headsets. "Alright, now that all three have signaled in the comm channels are open to the respective CO's which means that I need a sitrep for Fireteam Bravo first and then Charlie."

Chelsea, who was the leader of the second team, quickly gave a rundown of what had happened for them. Things went pretty similar. Cerberus personnel was outside moving big cargo boxes in, they got ambushed by our forces and then they moved in, smashing whatever resistance was in the way.

The mention of big boxes being moved triggered something for me though. Limping over to Wrex, I pulled my mask off and started to talk to him in hushed tones. "Hey big guy, so you were kinda sniffing around earlier and seemed a bit upset."

At me reminding him, the wounded warrior seemed to perk up, although not really in a good way. More of the, "I have a suspicion about something and if I'm right then heads are going to fucking roll," way. "Right. I smelled something that I hadn't in centuries."

"You wanna, you know, clue me in a bit?" I pointed to my nose. "Us humans aren't quite as well-developed in the nose region so I completely missed out on that particular smell."

"Eh." He grunted as he pulled his shotgun out. "Even if you had smelled it that wouldn't have mattered. The last time I caught that scent was a long time before you humans started popping up and causing all kinds of trouble."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

The massive krogan chuckled. "Good. It was meant as one, just make sure they don't try to sterilize you humans too. It's about time those pampered Council members got shaken up a little bit."

"Well." I just gave a little shrug at the krogan's downer of a warning. "Not sure exactly how much I can do but I'll try my best to make sure that doesn't happen. Back to the smell though, you know where it's coming from?"

"Not exactly." I had already noticed that my teammate was walking better already, even though he had probably taken at least a half-dozen bullet wounds in his quick destruction of that flanking Cerberus group. Once again, what I wouldn't give for fucking regenerative abilities. I mean the genetic modifications are great for strength and endurance but so far the Alliance scientists haven't whipped up anything nearly as ridiculous as simple krogan natural biology. "I'll be able to tell once we get close though."

"Sounds good to me."

I opted to remain silent and just let the krogan do what he wanted as he kept to the back, sniffing this way and that as we made our way back to the front gate of the facility, stepping gingerly around Cerberus corpses the entire way. Well, most of us at least. A certain battlemaster pretty much just stomped on whatever was in his way which honestly didn't surprise me too much.

"What about now?" We were finally stepping out of the bunker and back into the light now, meaning that we were in the heart of the compound. "Anything getting stronger?"

The muscular neck of the fighter whipped this way and that, before he settled very definitely on the front gate that we had opted to avoid on our way in, making a hole in a nearby building instead. "It's there."

With his helmet off, Wrex's fierce expression was clearly visible to the other two teammates who now lagged back a bit and pulled me to the side as our walking tank continued his hunt. Garrus was the first to speak. "Are we going to have any issues with the krogan?"

"I don't think so." Giving a terse nod, I jerked my head towards our current subject. "Wrex here smelled something that set him off when we first got in here and now that the fight's over it's all he can focus on."

"Hopefully whatever he finds doesn't set him off too much." The corporal chimed in with a worried expression. "I'm not feeling up to corralling an angry Wrex after a fight like that."

"Plus I'd hate to see Wolf's chest get even more dented in." Garrus poked the bowl-shaped center of my armor with one of his talons. "It'd just be awful to lose one of my new favorite battlefield distractions."

"You always know just what to say Vakarian."

I gave a little cough as even the slight push in addition to me talking had set off the injury. The Normandy better fucking touch down before this medi-gel wears completely off or am I going to be in a rather pissy mood.

By now Wrex, had determinedly strode up to the front gates and in a ridiculous feat of strength, grunted slightly before pushing one of the tall metal doors wide open. "It's this way." He pointed with the shotgun that he had now grabbed from his back, not even bothering to treat the accomplishment like anything out of the ordinary.

Besides the half-dozen corpses that littered the outpost, the only thing left was the large shipping containers that they had been in the process of moving. However, as I drew closer it was extremely evident that these weren't just any ordinary crates. In addition to the Cerberus logo that was plastered on the side, a high-tech display with what looked like some sort of locking mechanism was holding the contents secure.

"I'm guessing this is what set your sniffer off big guy?" Whipping his head towards me, a displeased little grumble was the only answer I needed. "What do you say we hack this shit open?"

"I'll stand guard." The red-armored biotic adopted a combat stance as I opened up my hack module and let it go to work, once again delighting at using Cerberus' own decryption device against them.

As the indicator bar sped towards completion, I cleared my throat a bit which again further aggravated things. I really should stop doing that because my upper chest is starting to feel like someone's rubbed it raw with sandpaper. "Any reason you're so ready for a fight?"

"If this is what I think it is, you all should be." At that dire of a warning from someone who had seen so much combat, the corporal and former C-Sec officer snagged AR's from their back and held them at the ready as well.

"You gonna share what you're so worried about with the rest of us?"

"Or just keep it as a surprise." The sniper tacked onto our fireteam leader's question with a little chuckle. "I don't like surprises that can possibly kill me."

"You'll all see once Wolfert hacks this damn thing."

I paused for just the slightest of moments internally wondering how smart it was to open a box that could contain literally anything from the way our resident walking tank was reaction before I thought better of it and kept going. Again, I'd much rather face whatever was in there than deal with a pissed off Wrex.

As the electronic lock finally broke, I watched as the top of the crate slid off and an icy mist came out and wreathed around the four of us. Wrex looked over the top first, body wreathing with biotics as he held his shotgun in the other hand. He stared for a couple of seconds before giving the single angriest growl I had ever heard come from him and then scowling as he walked away, muttering something unintelligible.

"I take it it's not a threat then?" The light-haired young man then stepped up to the crate and looked in. "It's a big…bug?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he turned to me. "Look at this Wolf, what do you think?"

Sure enough, I considered what was clearly some sort of cryo containment unit and it was a fucking oversized insect. "I don't get it."

By now Garrus had finally given into curiosity and peered in right next to us. "Ah Spirits, this is bad. Really bad. Now I see why Wrex reacted the way he did."

"Wanna educate the humans here?"

Jenkins fiercely shook his head to back up my statement and for once, I think we were both at the same level of befuddlement. "It's a rachni." The turian ran a hand through his fringe in a very human movement, that made me laugh inwardly despite the strange proclamation. Sarcastic bastard's been hanging around us way too much.

"But…I thought they're supposed to be extinct." Jenkins said as he holstered his weapon.

"Yeah. My galactic history's not the sharpest but I'm pretty sure everything I heard was that they got their asses thrashed and then pretty much eradicated completely." My head jerked towards our other squadmate. "That was before they got neutered of course."

An annoyed glare came from Garrus but it quickly passed. "Whatever happened then doesn't matter, what matters is that w-"

"That we what Vakarian?" Moving way faster than someone his size should've been able to, the pacing krogan rejoined us in a flash. "You'd better choose your next words carefully."

The two just stared at each other, neither backing down until Jenkins voice burst in. "Hey uh, we've got a situation here."

Sure enough, the crate had started to shake ever so slightly and with a shout of rage, Wrex stomped over to its side. Bringing his shotgun up to his shoulder, he blasted away at the bug in the box with an almost feral look on his face. For the next twenty seconds or so, we all just watched as rage almost visibly vented from our oldest shipmate.

Long after the shaking had stopped and the only thing moving was the rachni parts flying out of the box due to the force of the blast, the mercenary stomped over to us. His crimson-tinted armor was now coated with a fresh set of green and I winced at the sight. Thankfully though, the tension was almost entirely gone from his face now. "As usual, everyone sends in the krogan to clean things up." Smirking, he looked at his weapon with joy before stowing it on his lower back as it folded up. "I almost forgot how much I liked the sight of dead rachni too."

"Wrex." I gave the hefty alien a pat on the shoulder. "Have I said that I'm really, really glad that you're on our side big guy?"

A satisfied smirk crossed his face as he walked away towards another crate. "How about we open up another one and I'll kill that too?"

"Uh…" Jenkins voiced the hesitation that we were all feeling. "I'm gonna have to call this one in to the commanders first, see what they think of the whole situation." His hand went to the side of his helmet as he broadcasted out to the rest of the team. "This is Corporal Jenkins here, Team Charlie is waiting at the pickup location."

"Roger that corporal, we just picked up Chelsea's team so we should be arriving in just a couple minutes. Hold tight until then just in case of further hostile activity."

"Right, we will do that."

At Jenkins' hesitation I had enough of the playing around the subject that we were currently doing. "Sir it's Wolf, we found rachni down here in boxes." I glanced around, trying to get some kind of an estimate of how many boxes there were. "It's tough to say but there's quite a few other storage containers that look like the one that held the thing so there could be up to…maybe a dozen more. Conservatively speaking."

Surprisingly, he didn't sound too shocked. "Understood Wolf, don't mess with anymore of the crates. We found a few…interesting items ourselves. I don't want to say anything more over comms but we'll have a proper debriefing once we all get back onto the ship."

"Understood." After talking that much in a short time span, I wretched and went to the ground in pain. Damn but that hurts. I like it much better when I'm the only one throwing biotic attacks around. "And uh, I know Chakwas is going to rip my head off but she needs to prep some medical equipment."

"Anything serious?"

I looked over to Jenkins who was absentmindedly trying to plug the hole in his armor with omni-gel. "Nah, nothing life-threatening. Jenkins got one in the side that doesn't appear to have hit anything vital and I've probably got a few broken ribs to go along with a slightly warped leg. Wrex got hit the worst but it looks like the combination of his recuperative abilities in combination with getting to shoot a rachni is enough for him."

"That's good to hear." I saw that the channel switched from group to private. "Chelsea and Woley were both hit as well so I'd like to have a private discussion just between the four of us once everyone is dismissed."

I panicked for a brief moment at hearing that my best friend and closest ally had been hurt in the fight before relaxing a bit. If it was anything that was life threatening I'm sure he would have let me know. At least I fucking hope he would clue me in. Chelsea though…I was still unsure about. Now that our little spat was behind us, it was probably a good time to try and makeup. Doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it though.

"Roger that Shep. You got anything in particular you need to chat with us about?"

"A few things. The discoveries that were made in these bases are…unsettling to say the least. I've got an Alliance cleanup crew coming in to tear this thing down and see what they can unearth but I would still like to discuss things between the four of us first." He paused for a moment and the next sentence made me dread the upcoming conversation. "Plus, I need to know anything you know about Cerberus."

Well shit…I'm going to have to lie out my ass again aren't I? I'm getting tired of this whole, "deceiving everyone around you all the time," thing.

 **A/N: Sorry I missed last week's scheduled post, I was up in the Chicago area visiting family for Thanksgiving for a few days so I didn't have access to my writings. In good news though, I only have one week left of classes and then it is winter break time which I am extremely excited for, I picked up Final Fantasy XV the other day so my time will be divided between that and writing pretty much. Also, thanks to you guys who left advice in the question last week, a lot of original ideas that were cool to read.**

 **Thanks once again goes to Ranger Station Charlie for lending his suggestions and editing skills.**

 **Question of the week: So what was your favorite class to play as in the Mass Effect series in either the main game or ME3 multiplayer? For me personally I loved the Infiltrator!Shep since I just tend to default to the "rogue" type character in RPG's and for the Multiplayer it was probably a tie between the Drell Infiltrator and Talon Merc.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Blaze1992: Honestly I don't have it exactly nailed down in my head how I'm going to go about it so I'm not going to lie and tell you it's one way or the other, lol.**

 **Fallout Fan: Yeah I'd agree with you there, BS probably wasn't a good way to put it. I just wasn't sure how exactly Samara would deal with the more…I guess overbearing is the closest word I can think of parts of his nature. And I've never thought of it that way but honestly Samara is more extreme than Wolf in terms of how they deal with people on the wrong side of the law. Lol, yes Wolf would definitely never hear the end of it from Mitch if that went down like that.**

 **Observer01: That's definitely a neat idea, it could be useful against targets like vorcha that try to swarm and get in close range who also have regenerative abilities that the warp would stop.**

 **Dekuton: That would be neat, right now the Bio-Cade (except for battering ram usage) is an almost purely defensive/tactical maneuvering tool so imbuing it with something like that would be interesting to watch.**

 **Worf359: Nova is one that he will definitely be getting in the future, tentatively between ME1-2 sometime. He kind of already uses the charge as a sort of way around learning how to flash-step or teleport or whatever you call it plus that might be a bit too "finesse" of a technique for him to easily learn but I've got a couple Annihilation Field suggestions so that might be something that gets incorporated in the future to some extent.**

 **GJD: Yeah there's going to be a few chapters of mostly character interactions after this. When I first started this little fight I didn't expect it to go as long as it did but that's just how it flowed in my head when I started putting it to paper.**

 **RSC: Yeah…Cerberus is definitely just such a flawed, almost hypocritical organization. They shoot themselves in the foot so many times and for all their espousal of, "advancing human rights," they don't seem to give much regard to actual individuals. The thought definitely seems to be an extreme ends justify the means type of viewpoint.**


	17. Half the Truth

I shook my head for what felt like the fiftieth time in the last few minutes. After Chakwas had given everyone a quick look over and stabilized them, we were all summoned to the debriefing room, which was where we were now gathered. Even after what had happened I still didn't quite believe it and I just had to vent a little bit. "Seriously? Plant zombies? Rachni at two of the bases and then fucking plant zombies at the third?"

"That's…not quite accurate but close enough to the truth." Shepard allowed a slight grin at my outburst which was something. Even if I don't accomplish anything else, at least I'll have helped that man to get some of that weight off his back and that's saying something. "According to our scans they were plant-based bipedal organisms with slow movement speed that spit an acid-like substance upon close proximity."

"I'm with Wolf on this one, sounds an awful lot like zombies to me." Ashley shook her head at the inherent weirdness of her statement. Still not quite sure whether it's the agreeing with me or the whole, "zombie," thing that had her more put off.

"Damn Gunny, you didn't even throw in a disparaging comment at me in that whole thing." I threw a wink her way that caused her eyes to roll as she exhaled loudly in annoyance.

"Alright, alright." Shepard raised his hands as he paced the center of the room. Despite his tolerance which had grown quite nicely, he didn't exactly do the whole, "staying in one place," thing well still. "Let's get back on track." He turned to Jenkins and gave a nod. "Your team stormed the facility, pulled a flanking maneuver that allowed you to disrupt communications and then holed up until you could counterattack?"

"That's about right commander." The young man gave a nod while keeping the rest of his body still. Chakwas had pulled the slug out of his side but the wound had reopened twice already thanks to the kid's hyperactivity and Chakwas warned him that the consequences for a third would not be pleasant. "Then we moved to the main entrance of the compound and waited for pickup. That's where Wrex detected the rachni."

"And then blasted it to hell when it started to come out of that cryo-stasis it was in or whatever the hell you want to call it." Wrex chipped in his two cents in his typical low rumble before returning to silence once again.

"Understood." Caleb looked at Chelsea who gave a little nod. Her own arm was in a sling as she had apparently been hit by a biotic throw that tossed her into a wall with her arm pinned behind her. Of course, the guy didn't last long enough to celebrate his accomplishment as one of her N7 Eagle SMG's spat enough bullets to kill him a couple seconds later. "I think we've got all we need from everybody then. We'll be returning to the Citadel to regroup with Admiral Kahoku and to pick up a new Mako. Everyone is free from all duties for the next shipboard cycle so get some rest and figure out if you need anything while we're there. This trip will most certainly be a bit longer."

"Just for clarification, how long are we talking commander?"

Caleb turned to face Mitch who was the other injured member of the team. Apparently Cerberus had mined some portion of the hill opposite to their gate and when Woley tried to set up his leg was hit by the shrapnel from the explosive device. "I would say three days conservatively so plan on wrapping everything up by the end of the second day just in case."

"Anybody else have any questions?" Chelsea looked around the room, craning her neck this way and that. "Good. Team dismissed."

I just sat there with the commanders and Mitch who remained immobile. We were supposed to be reviewing Cerberus as a whole down in the med bay so right now I was just waiting on orders on what to do until then. Plus, the aftereffects of that biotic kick had done quite a number on me: two broken ribs and a heavily bruised chest in general from where my armor had caved in. Speaking of, it's a good thing we were going back to the Citadel because I was definitely going to have Daxy and Lia take a look at that while I was there to see what they could do. Or maybe I could send an expense report to Miranda since after all, it was one of **their** goons that did it to me.

"Wolf, can you help the LT up?" Chelsea nodded to me as she gingerly got up from her own seat with some help from her younger twin. "We're all going down there now while the details are fresh in everyone's mind still."

"I might be able to do that." Smirking at my former battle partner, I stepped up next to him and crouched down. "You want me to carry you fireman style or what?"

"Oooh, or maybe bridal?" Chelsea chimed in with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"If you try to carry me, wounded leg or not, I will break it across your face." The sniper warned as I drew closer but the laugh took away most of the threat.

"Just pull the man up and don't make him suffer anymore Wolfert." The commander ended our fun prematurely, even though he gave a light chuckle as he walked past with his sister.

"Fine, whatever you say Shepard."

Without a word, I activated my biotics and the blonde slowly floated upwards. Usually it'd be a pretty easy job, but with my injuries I was straining quite a bit. Woley started at his own weightlessness for a second before seeing just how much I was struggling.

"Christ Wolf, just put me down and we'll do this the normal way."

"Fine."

After letting him down, I reached out a hand and slowly pulled the shorter blonde haired N7 to his feet. Usually it'd be a simple matter thanks to the ten inches and eighty pounds or so that I had on the guy but with his injured leg to go with my own wounds, it was a rather painful process. Once I got him to his feet, I applied just a tiny little lightening of Woley's mass to help myself out. Even if I couldn't fully lift him, I could at least do this much.

"Jeez Woley, lose some damn weight." I felt my ribs shift and cursed loudly as the pain hit with it.

"Oh man up Wolf, I've only got one leg, what do you expect me to do about it?"

With the aid of my biotics, I finally leveraged him to his feet and threw his arm over my shoulder, helping him hobble along to the stairs leading downwards to the lower levels of the ship. "Go back in time and change your genetic structure. Make yourself six inches taller, that's all I ask."

"You're an asshole Wolf."

"Granted. To be fair though, have I ever claimed to be anything else?"

I grinned down at my longtime friend who conceded the point with a light laugh that crinkled his eyes at the corner. "Guess that's true. Despite your many faults, you've always been pretty self-aware at least."

"I've got that going for me at least." By now we had hobbled our way over to the stairs where a Marine that I recognized stood on guard. "Hey uh," I racked my brain for a second, "it was Private Socchi right?"

Clearly I had guessed right as the Marine started positively beaming as he crisply saluted the both of us before settling into the, "relaxed," stance with his feet shoulder width apart and hands crossed behind his back. "That's correct Mr. Wolfert, sir." Nodding to the both of us, he looked at the clearly hurting lieutenant on my arm. "I'm guessing that you two need some help down the stairs?"

"Nailed it in one." I gave a sideways little nod to the sniper who was trying his best to gingerly make his way down the stairs with the both of us that were now flanking him on either side. "Guy's sharp as a tack, knew there was something I liked about him right off the bat."

Woley just grunted as he laboriously made his way down the stairs. It was really slow going with the two of us having to take a step down and then practically haul the N7 down to the same level as us before continuing the process again from step one. "Yeah yeah, that's great and all but how about you two new best buddies socialize when I'm not trying to avoid stepping on an injured leg."

Looking over to the helmetless Socchi who was otherwise fully decked out in the standard Alliance blue armored get up, I mouthed the word, "touchy," to him twice which got a little grin in return. "I don't mean to overstep but all the rumors about you two back when I was just getting out of boot was that Wolf was the irritable loose cannon and Woley was the perfect one…guess you can't believe everything you hear."

If I didn't currently have Mitch weighing me down, I would have busted up at the kid's observation but instead I reigned it in to only a loud outburst that still almost overturned our bumbling little group. "Wolf if you say anything right now I swear…"

"No worries." I raised my free left hand to allay any fears the yellow-blonde haired sniper might have had. "Now I wanna know though, were there any other rumors?"

"Oh for sure. You guys were minor celebrities in our eyes. Not like, to the levels of the Lion or even Anderson but a couple rungs below that so there was definitely some talk, especially from any of the Elysium kids who had trained under you."

As he took another stair, Woley sighed loudly as a single bead of sweat started to drip down. We were nearing the end thankfully, but it felt like miles still. I wasn't sure though if it was the prospect of the last few stairs, or more embarrassing lies being aired that worried him more right now.

"Well gimme a good one then private."

"Well there was the standard insane stuff like you two had gone undercover in the Terminus and brought down entire pirate rings from the inside."

I looked at Woley and tried my best to look humble. It didn't quite work. "To be fair we had some help. And we weren't really undercover, we just posed as arms dealers or the like to get in close."

"Wait you guys actually did that?" When we nodded he rattled off a couple other missions that we had more or less done, just with a lot of the details drummed up quite a bit to make it more dramatic. The last one he got out as we reached down was the perfect note to end on though. "Well and then there was all the fraternization rumors, I think that was mostly wishful thinking on a couple of the female Marines though to be fair."

A mischievous glint crossed my eye and I tried my best to rein in the corners of my mouth that were starting to tilt upwards. As I began to open my mouth, Socchi let go of one side of Woley now that he had safely touched down on the second level and the Infiltrator took advantage of his freed arm by pointing a finger straight at me. "No. I know that look and just no."

"Well I mean…there was that one time."

Now the shorter man turned to the private in front of us who was unsure who to believe and just stood there, letting us hash it out. "There never was, 'that one time,' so don't even try to get **that** rumor going again. God knows Chelsea has already probably thrown out there to anyone who'll listen so we do not need any more fuel added to the fire."

"Fine." Putting on my most defeated look, I saluted the Marine who was now taking the stairs back up to return to his post, deactivating my biotics as I did so. As soon as he disappeared and the medical bay door opened to reveal the two Shepards and Chakwas, I whispered into Woley's ear. "If we were a couple though I would absolutely wear the pants in the relationship."

"Please." Woley scoffed as we took a seat and the doc immediately started to take a look at his injured leg. "You let me take the lead in practically every single mission we ever had. Plus Emma totally had you wrapped around her finger too so there's already precedent there."

A spasm of panic for some reason crossed his face before seeing that I was laughing right along with him at which point the lines of worry disappeared almost entirely. "To be fair, that's just because I hated getting those debriefings from Speirs. Guy was sharp as a tack for his age but those talks were dull as shit. Also, that last one is a whole separate point. When you finally **really** fall for a girl you'll get it."

"What are we talking about?"

Unfortunately, I was cut off before I could make the joke by the female Shepard but I did realize why Woley had freaked out a bit and it made me a little bit annoyed at myself when I did. He had brought up Em out of the blue and I think he was expecting me to snap or go sour like I usually did whenever she or my dad was brought up. At least I was able to continue on this time so…progress I guess?

Chelsea was out of the sling now and was allowing her arm to rest in some sort of device that I'm sure was currently doing its part to heal her arm but I had no clue what the actual function was.

"Just some stupid rumors about when Wolf and I were partners back in the day." My fellow graduate waved it off as nothing. "Apparently the kids we trained liked to say all kinds of stuff after we got done graduating them."

Tacking on, I rattled off an abbreviated list that included most of what Socchi had just said. At the mention of us being a secret couple, Chelsea coughed loudly and looked away which caused Mitch to practically fly out of his seat. Well as much as someone being restrained in a medical chair could.

"I fucking knew you joined in on that! Ow, shit." He winced as a passing Chakwas prodded his leg pointedly. "Yeah you nailed it with that last one."

All business despite the chaos around her, the woman just nodded before grabbing a few devices and returning to her patient. "You are up next Mr. Wolfert."

Her eyebrows raised as she gave me a healthy stare-down and I just slowly and painfully eased out of my shirt before tossing it at Woley. "Bring it on Chakwas, I'm ready to go."

"You are absolutely incorrigible."

"I'd be a lot more offended if I knew what it meant." To be fair, I did know what the word meant but playing up the dumb brute bit sometimes was fun if it meant I got to mess with people.

As the almost white haired medical expert shook her head, Caleb finally raised his voice when before he had just been taking in the scene with an almost amused expression, like he was watching a comedy act or some live performance. "How's your chest Wolf? You're the only injured one here who hasn't really been fully stabilized yet or is in the process of doing so."

It was true. With how many injured we had, my wound was not top priority. The armor's onboard medical VI readouts weren't perfectly accurate but it at least showed enough that I didn't have any serious internal bleeding due to organs being punctured which was the major concern with these kinds of injuries.

"Nah." I shook my head at the Alliance icon with the distinctive blonde, almost white hair. "Luckily doc doesn't hate me enough to deprive me completely of painkillers. Still though, I don't think this medical tape wrapped around me is gonna be enough to permanently get the job done."

"What are you thinking injury wise?" The N7 Adept gave a teasing little half-smile. "In your extremely professional opinion."

I took mental stock. "Well since I'm the expert here." Looking over to the older woman who looked like she was trying very hard not to fire back as she resorted to shaking her head while continuing to work on Woley, I gave a little checklist. "Well I'm pretty sure that at least one of my ribs is cracked, maybe two. In addition there might be some internal bruising." I placed my hand just below my ribcage. "It feels really tender here too so that's what I'm basing that off of. Tough to say though."

"Understood." He looked over to the medical expert once again who appeared to be finishing up with the LT. "I'm not going to make you do anything but can you survive the next few minutes as you are so we can get this out of the way ASAP?"

Shifting experimentally in my seat, I turned towards the rapidly approaching Chakwas. "Long as doc gives me a couple more painkillers I'm good for whatever."

As the subject of Cerberus was now about to be broached, my panic came right back once again even if I tried to look nonchalant by throwing a wink at the lady who just scoffed at me once again. "You Marines. Go out there and get yourself halfway killed then just come back here expecting me to fix you up with whatever you need just because of a little bit of flirting."

"Admit it Karin, you'd miss this if you were anywhere else."

"Not likely. It'd be much more comfortable and less hectic but that goes almost without saying." She turned up her nose as she made her way to the exit but the mirth hidden behind her eyes was pretty easy to see for even the most unobservant of people. "And I can take a hint as to when I'm not wanted commander, you don't need to worry about hurting my feelings."

"Thanks Chakwas."

As the door slid closed, the only uninjured person got up and locked the door before coming and sitting back down. The Lion of Elysium's face had gone deadly serious and I realized that he was now fully in, "Commander Mode."

"Who here knows anything about this, 'Cerberus,' group?"

Woley fully knew the secret of my past involvement, even if he didn't know that I was still under their thumb at the moment. Thankfully though, he had the decency to not look in my general direction. "Wolf and I skirted them a couple times back in the day but I've never had direct contact like today."

"As far as I know they're rumored to be a highly xenophobic splinter cell that broke off from Alliance Spec Ops and became what they are today." I gave the generic lowdown that all operatives who achieved some level of success were given before going a bit more in-depth. My mouth opened and closed a few times as I thought before I decided to skirt dangerously close to the truth. Telling a rather…selective version of it if you will. Shit, maybe I'm a lot more of a natural for this kind of double-dealing backhanded shit than I thought.

"I've had a couple run-ins with them in the past actually." The Shepards turned to look at Woley but I quickly shook my head. "LT wasn't involved, it was just me. After I got out of the Alliance and went back to Detroit, they tried to recruit me to join their forces, working under some kind of, 'cell leader,' as they called her."

"Her?" By now, Caleb had leaned fully forward and his piercing grey eyes were staring at me intensely. Not in an intimidating, or even suspicious way thankfully, just trying to glean every detail about the enemy that he could. Just keep playing it cool Wolf.

"Yeah, introduced herself as, 'Nyx.' She had a group working under her apparently and wanted me to become a part of it." I shook my head thinking back to the fact that they had been keeping passive track of me ever since I was on the way to Vanguard School when I sat next to Jiro Toshiwa. "She implied that they had eyes on me all the way back when I was on Arcturus so it's safe to say they have a fair number of agents implanted into the Alliance itself."

The commander tapped his chin and you could see the gears whirring as his brows went from furrowed to normal and back as thoughts passed through his head. "You would have thought that they'd put up more resistance in our last attack then if they've infiltrated us so heavily."

"Not necessarily." Woley spoke up as he tried to maneuver his leg into a comfortable position. "If they're truly a pro-human organization then the success of this team would be almost as important to them as it us to us. The success of the first two human Spectres would pave a way for further advancement for humanity in general."

I pointed to the blonde and nodded while Chelsea, who had remained uncharacteristically silent, gave her two cents as she reclined in her seat. "Plus, if they've managed to get somebody onboard this ship, the risk of relaying some message out of here to warn them would be pretty severe. It'd probably be the easiest way for their cover to get blown."

"True." Nodding quickly, I had to make sure that I kept up with the rest in conversation like I normally would just to allay any suspicions. "And if they were able to mount a heavier defense, we could have had increased casualties and possibly even a total failure. They probably figured the losses were acceptable or something along those lines. Even with the…items they had in there."

"Speaking of, do you three have any idea how the hell they brought back the Goddamn rachni?" Caleb swore uncharacteristically which showed that the ordinarily calm man was just as thrown by the discovery as the rest of us. "Because from everything I've heard, they're supposed to be long extinct."

"You never were much for history anyway bro." Chelsea needled her younger twin with a grin and he just answered with a little shrug of acceptance, acknowledging the truth of his sister's statement. "Forget the rachni though, I wanna know about those damn plant monsters."

"I…don't know what those were." Our leader shook his head. "After the fight was over I took a scan of one of them and they were entirely made out of organic material. Plant material to be specific, we know that much, but nothing that matches any database that we can find."

"So…we're dealing with a bunch of pro-human terrorists who were somehow able to procure members of a long-dead species along with creepy plant monsters made out of who knows what and to top it off, they might have already infiltrated our ship or really anywhere in the Alliance honestly, without us having any way of knowing."

I was able to pull off a very genuine rant thankfully, thanks to the fact that the first two things genuinely shocked me even if I knew of at least two Cerberus-affiliated personnel already, one of which was yours truly.

"That's about right Wolf." The commander stood up. "Which means that we shouldn't underestimate them."

Yeah I don't think there's any worries about that in the near future.

"The only good thing besides the fact that we were able to shut down their operations on that planet is that Tali ripped a fairly sizable chunk of data that they were in the midst of destroying. While we're on the Citadel, a copy of the encrypted information is going straight to the best tech people in the Alliance and hopefully that will shed some more light on exactly what we're dealing with here."

"Good shit."

"That's all I had for you three, I'm gonna have to run this by some of the higher-ups too but for now I'll let Chakwas back in here so everybody can get fixed up." The door slid open in front of Caleb and he yelled out before waving his hand. "We're done in here if you want to take a look at your patients doc."

"Thank you Shepard." The older woman's voice echoed back to us and in a matter of moments, she appeared right in front of me. "All right now young man, let's have a look at that chest of yours."

"Karin please." I peeked around the medical professional to coyly glance at Chelsea and Woley who both were already smirking. "Not in front of my good friend and Mitch."

Woley just flipped me the bird as he grinned while a predictable groan came from the lady in front of me. "You just never stop do you?"

"Not while I'm conscious, no."

After that, I shut my mouth as the medical professional started to examine my injured torso. With deft hands, she brought down a machine that fully surrounded my chest and I relaxed as the telltale whirr of machinery filled the room. While my head peeked out from above the equipment, I watched as Chakwas tilted her head this way and that, studying the readouts of the device that was scanning just how much hurt the biotic kick had done to me.

"So what's the damage then?" I titled my head and put on my best dramatic voice. "Am I gonna make it doc?"

"You do realize I've already done the initial scans right Nathan?"

"Well yeah, I've got a couple cracked ribs and some other random crap too." To be honest, I didn't remember until she said it but I wasn't going to admit that.

"Bruising of internal organs…but your very technical, 'random crap,' works too."

"So what are you doing now then?"

The older woman stopped for a second and looked at me over the medical equipment. "Do you honestly want to know? Because I can get **very** technical when I need to."

"On second thought I'm good. Just patch me up however you see fit and let me know when I can get back in the action."

As silence took the room back over, Woley grabbed a pair of crutches from the corner and hobbled his way out, leaving me alone with the doc and Chelsea. After a few moments of nothing but the hum of the apparatus surrounding me, Chelsea gave a light cough.

"I uh, would like to apologize." She scratched her head fiercely. "For before the mission."

"That so?" I was torn right now as I stared up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with the Spectre. One side of me desperately wanted to make up with the woman as quickly as possible and the asshole side of me wanted to drag it out to make her pay for drudging up my past.

"Yeah." She stood up and started pacing the room and I watched as she practically made a groove in the ship with her stomping. "I probably shouldn't have pushed you so hard to talk about something you clearly didn't want to."

"Considering the fact that you just lied about your own background in front of the whole crew a couple minutes before that it was just a tad bit hypocritical." So far the asshole side was winning apparently.

"Damn it Wolf, why can't you make this easier? I have a hard enough time apologizing already without you needling me the whole time I'm doing it." She stopped dead in her tracks and hissed out an exhalation with teeth clenched. "Look. I'm stubborn. And sometimes that comes out at the worst times."

"Like when you're trying to get a teammate to talk about their fucked up past?"

"Yeah. Like that." A terse little smile appeared for a split-second before she started walking the room again. "I like to get to know the people I'm working with and the fact that you're such an easygoing guy except for this one area really got under my skin. That's when the whole, 'stubborn,' thing kicked in and I just needed to know why basically anything from your past that wasn't the Alliance made you so annoyed."

"And now you know."

"Yeah. And again, I'm really sorry to force it out of you like that."

I sighed. Then I looked at Chawkas who had been listening to the whole thing silently and now just looked at me with a face that screamed, "apologize too you big idiot." Or that could be my better side guilt tripping me. Either way it worked.

"It's fine. If I'm going to be honest, I don't deal with loss well at all."

She gave a sad little understanding smile as she took a seat on the bench next to the examination table I was seated on. "Who does?"

"Still, I'm worse than most. After my dad and fiancé died back in Detroit, I went down a dark road." I still wasn't going to tell anyone about the fact that I butchered my former gang but I could afford to open up to the woman a little bit. "I'd never touched alcohol in my life but thanks to the nightmares, I needed it just to be able to go to sleep."

I answered her unasked question before she could get to it. "Thankfully I've gotten over that bit at least so you don't have to worry about me having a secret stash anywhere but the rest…not so much."

"Well. It's not exactly like I have either to be fair. At least you don't have an undiagnosed mental condition that causes you to turn into a hyperaware combat robot before overloading thanks to the trauma."

"No. No I don't." I can't even blame what I did to the Reds on some kind of mental condition, I knew exactly what I did back there and it makes my stomach twist into knots now just thinking about the methods I used on what was mostly a bunch of idiots in way over their heads. Giving a conciliatory shake of the head, I tried to soften her self-criticism. "I just turn into a mega-asshole who bites people's heads off anytime they try to talk about that subject. And just in case you weren't reading between the lines, that's me apologizing too."

"I appreciate the clarification." She smiled as she stood back up, adjusting her sling ever so slightly as she did. "So what do you say we call a truce? I'll make sure not to bring up your past unless you bring the subject up to me and you leave the fact that I lied to the crew in the dark where it belongs. They don't need to be worrying about their co-commanding officer, it's supposed to be the other way around."

"That's fair." I looked down at my rather trapped status and grinned. "So from one N7 with a fucked past to the other, we bury the hatchet and move forward like nothing ever happened?"

"Right, because it's worked **so** great for us both in the past hasn't it?" The platinum blonde laid the sarcasm on thick. "What's that old saying about insanity?"

"Don't put your dick in it?"

That actually got a laugh out of her which was nice, things were a bit too real for a while there. "Pretty sure that's what they say about crazy but I guess that's true too. I'm glad I was able to get through that whole apologizing thing earlier…even if you were a complete prick about it at first."

"Did you expect any different?"

"Nope." She finger flicked my forehead as she walked past me and out the door. "I actually was expecting worse to be honest."

"Me too. Later Chels."

"See ya Wolf. Don't give the doc a heart attack while she's finishing up."

I let a wide smirk loose as I turned back to the doctor. "We'll see."

The lady just ignored my comment and continued to go about her work, uttering just a single word. "Marines."

 **LINE BREAK**

"Since this will be a multi-day stay, I will be suspending the usual rule of sticking in pairs." Caleb stood in front of the decontamination chamber that led to the ship's exit. We had just docked on the Citadel and as the final steps were being taken, the commander had seen fit to give everybody a little reminder. "However, I am still mandating a check in every six hours, at least until the night cycle hits. Any questions?"

Predictably, when no one spoke up, he gave the all clear and the ground team filed into the small room. I gave an experimental stretch as I found myself in the corner, testing out the fragility of my injured area. Chakwas had given me the all clear for everything but physical combat, apparently I would need to stay away from any fights for a week so my ribs and organs would have time to properly heal. It was annoying but still, I guess I could use some time to just kick back and shoot the shit for a few days.

"Hey Tali, you got any big plans?"

The young quarian woman startled a bit as I addressed her before turning to face me. "Chelsea said she was going to take Liara, Ashley and I out to, 'hit the town,' later on tonight but I'm free until then."

"Well you wanna stop by my shop then? I'd love for you to meet my friends Daxy and Lia."

I singled Tali out specifically, just knowing the prejudices her people faced. While the rest of the crew would find lodging for the night extremely easily onboard the station, I didn't want the poor girl to be stuck spending a night in her ship bunk while the rest of the team got to sleep in actual beds. If anyone had earned a good night's sleep, it was definitely her. The engineer was a workhorse, even when she wasn't training or on the ground team, she was in the engine room helping the techs practically without a break.

"That sounds great!" She squealed adorably. "How long have you known them for?"

The door finally opened and the ground team filed out, giving each other nods as we all went our separate ways. "I've known Dax since before I even joined the military so…about seven years now? And Lia joined us a couple years ago. I found her getting harassed in a back alley by a couple thugs, gave her a job to get her back on her feet and now she's a kickass weapons technician. Of course, I don't think I've met a quarian yet who hasn't grasped anything technical in about half the time it would take anyone else so it really shouldn't surprise me too much."

"I didn't realize she was a quarian." Tali cocked her head as we filed into a cab and I input our destination on the electronic device before it took off. "I'm assuming she's on her Pilgrimage then?"

"You assume correctly." Reclining back in my seat, I kicked one leg over the other as Tali just shuffled backwards into her own chair. "She's from the Tonbay if I remember right."

"Oh, I know the Tonbay. I had a few friends onboard there back before I left."

"She's a really great girl, I'm sure you two will get along great and seeing another quarian lady doing what you're doing is going to be great for her to see in person too."

"Well." The quarian in purple squirmed and fidgeted with her hands at the compliment. "I'm not anything special, I just want to help and do whatever I can to help Shepard."

I put a friendly hand on her back. "Tali, seriously quit being so modest. You're a young lady who's managed to hold her own alongside Marines, a turian cop, N7's and a freaking krogan battlemaster. I'd say you're pretty damn special."

"Well, thanks then."

"Sure thing, you've earned all the praise you get and don't let anybody tell you otherwise either."

She looked back at the hand that was on her shoulder and gave a little chuckle. "You know, I'm not sure if most people would believe me if I told them that the Butcher of Torfan is both training me to knife fight and is also a pretty nice person."

"Woah, let's not overdo it there. 'Nice,' might be going a bit too far with the whole thing."

I laughed right alongside her as we finally reached our destination just a short walk from the Armory. Giving a loud yell as I burst through the doorway, I startled Lia who was sitting behind the front counter with a disassembled pistol in front of her. "I'm home everybody! And I've brought a guest so make sure you're dressed appropriately Daxy."

The flanging voice of my turian business partner drifted in from the other room. "I was just telling Lia how nice and calm it's been lately too."

At seeing a fellow quarian, Lia sprang around the counter and introduced herself. "Hi! I'm Lia'Shar nar Tonbay, it's very nice to meet you. I'm assuming you work with Nathan onboard the Normandy?"

Tali nodded back. "That's correct, Wolf's helped ease the adjustment for me quite a bit." She paused for a moment before realizing she hadn't introduced herself. "And I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya by the way."

Both of Lia's hands went up to cover her faceplate and she questioned Tali. "Wait, as in Rael'Zorah?"

"I'm his daughter, yes."

I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but I could see that the name had an impact on Lia. "Um. Could somebody help out the human here? The significance of that name is way over my head."

"My father is an admiral aboard the Migrant Fleet." When I didn't say anything, Tali continued the explanation, obviously picking up on the fact that I still didn't get it. "It's about the equivalent of your human political leaders, they're responsible for the welfare of the entire flotilla."

"So my country back on Earth had a president that led the nation and you'd be like his daughter or something?"

"That's close enough I suppose."

Lia had finally gotten over her shock and was fidgeting up a storm now as hands and fingers intertwined then she reached up to adjust the cowl on the back of her head. "It's such an honor to meet you Miss Zorah. If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know and it will be done."

"That's very kind of you but completely unnecessary, I'm just another quarian girl out trying to prove herself on her Pilgrimage. And please, just call me Tali."

Lia nodded and as the two young ladies began to chat about life back home, which was exactly what I hoped would happen, I slipped into the living quarters and restrained myself in greeting the turian, giving him only a handshake which shocked him. "What's with the formality all of the sudden Nate? Military life's already sunk its talons back into you I see."

"Not quite."

I took a seat just behind him, slipping on a mask similar to the one he currently wore as I watched him performing a black and silver custom paint job on a top of the line armor set. Most stores went completely mechanized when it came to this but there was still clientele that loved to boast about hand-crafted decaling and Daxy had obviously tapped into that particular customer base.

"I caught a biotically enhanced kick to the chest." The former Cabal winced as I recounted the details of the fight to him. "Two of my ribs are cracked and I bruised a couple of organs so I'm pretty much laid up for a week. No fighting, running, sparring or even working out. Nothing fun like that."

"How are you going to survive?" He brought a talon up to the protective shield around his face and lowered it for a moment to show off a grin filled with canines before returning to his work. "I take it everything's gone well otherwise though?"

"There's…been a few issues along the way but for the most part yeah." I could see the turian's head cock to the side as he spun the armor on its stand, painting interwoven lines. "I got into a verbal spat with one of my CO's."

"Let me guess." He adjusted the nozzle slightly and deep silver lines began to curve over the midnight black base now. "He brought up your past and you didn't take it well."

Dax knows me pretty well at this point I guess. "She, but other than that yeah. I got pissed because she kept digging while hiding her own issues and eventually I lost it and just shredded her. We made up after the next engagement was over but she's just the type of person that I know something's going to happen again. I think we're too similar."

"I see." My old friend gave a little nod before changing to a teasing tone. "How exactly did the, 'making up,' portion go?"

"No no, nothing like that." I thought for a moment. "Not that I wouldn't, but we just apologized, got things out in the open between us and that was that."

He surrounded himself in a light blue aura and another cylinder of paint flew to his hand. "You humans are much more boring when it comes to that. I would have thought that as volatile as you are, intercourse would be a more regular thing when it comes to dealing with stress."

"I think we mostly just hit stuff really hard. We're kind of more krogan-like when it comes to that."

Chuckling a little, I changed the subject as the subject of sex with Chelsea bothered me more than I thought it would. Even though Miranda and I had hooked up a couple times, that was somewhere between a physical attraction and her fucking with my head to try to do whatever she could to recruit me into their organization. There really wasn't another woman I had been interested in ever since Emma had been killed but something about the commander appealed to me and that was probably one more reason why I had reacted as strongly as I did when usually I would have just brushed it off like nothing. The fact that I knew in the back of my brain somewhere that the two of us together was an explosively bad idea probably added to that too.

"How's business going lately?"

Daxyrus Lenril held up a hand to pause me, looked this way and that over the chest piece for a few seconds before finally taking off the mask. Now that I could finally see the end result, it was a thing of beauty. Two creatures stared each other in the eye, the first a six-legged canine that stood just below the shoulder and just opposite that a coiling dragon "It's going great. A lot of your bounty hunter friends over at the guild have been coming by for work ever since Senmia spread word about how good of a job we did."

The turian lady was one of the higher-ranking bounty hunters in the organization and was also interested in our very own Lia to some degree or other. I wasn't quite sure where the two stood in terms of getting that out in the open. "Glad to hear it. I should probably stop in and say hey to whoever's at the hall in these next couple days."

"Actually." He pointed to the armor that he had just finished up. "If you don't mind making a delivery tomorrow, this is going to your friend Akihiro from the guild."

"That sounds great, might as well pitch in while I'm here and knock out two birds with one stone."

I peeked back out and saw that the two quarian girls were still engrossed in conversation, gesticulating wildly the whole time. A little smile crossed my face at seeing that my plan had worked so well. Tali could definitely use a little break from the constant stress that came along with being part of the Normandy's ground team. Besides for Liara, the rest of us had been trained in one form or another to cope with combat but she was still pretty fresh to this whole thing and a getaway from that would do her good I figured.

"I've gotta make a private call."

I turned to Daxy who just pointed upstairs to the office. "It's all yours for as long as you need it, I don't have any client meetings for the rest of the day today."

"'Preciate it. Hopefully this won't take too long." I mumbled more to myself more than him as I headed upstairs while scrolling through the contacts until I found one labeled, "Nyx." Taking a deep breath, I hit the call button and closed the door behind me as it began to dial.

It only rang once before a voice that I recognized well answered on the other end. "Dolos." So it was going to be one of those conversations. "I was wondering when you would call."

"I'm assuming you've heard what went down then in regards to running into a couple of your friends."

"Of course." She stated it matter of factly. After all I wasn't the only one with ties to Cerberus shipboard. "The development with the rachni was actually rather surprising."

"Right. Next you're going to be telling me that you didn't know about the fact that your organization laid a trap for whatever poor bastards happened upon it. They were just going to let an Alliance patrol be eaten alive by a fucking thresher maw…not quite sure how that benefits humanity."

"First of all, it is **our** organization. You're just as much a part of this as me." Miranda didn't even pause for a moment. She had probably been prepping for this conversation ever since news of what had gone down got passed to her. "Secondly, yes I am telling you that. While I do hold a rather sizable amount of power as a cell leader, I am kept in the dark as to what the other cells are doing. That way one person being taken captive brings a minimal amount of danger if he were to be caught. There's less danger to the group if the left arm doesn't know what the right is doing."

I just thought for a second. It was plausible, that didn't mean I liked it though. "Fine. That line of arguing would go nowhere in the end anyway. It would just lead to me getting angrier and that's about all it would accomplish. I'd like for this to be a nice, relaxing couple days away if possible."

"That's perfectly fine with me." Thankfully, she changed the subject on her own. "How are your injuries? My agent told me you took a rather nasty hit."

"No permanent damage. Bruised organs and a couple broken ribs but I'll be back to one-hundred percent in a week or so. Might have to sit out one combat op but that should be it."

"I'm glad to hear it. I was actually wondering if you would want to come by to the safehouse." Even though it was technically a question, her tone didn't indicate it. "Tonight if that works."

"Sounds fine." Trying to be nonchalant, I posed a simple question. "What's uh, what's going on?"

I coughed loudly as certain memories brute forced their way to the front of my mind. As if she knew what was happening in my head, her voice shifted to a rather teasing tone. "Well since you've done **such** a great job so far, I have a new, experimental upgrade I was hoping you would be willing to field-test for us. Considering your somewhat unique physiology, you're a perfect candidate." Wonder what that means. "After that's done, who knows?"

Damn that woman. I had no choice but to fire back now. "You know me, I'm always up for experimenting. What kind of new toys we talking here?"

"I think it's better that I explain it to you in person. How soon can you be to the safehouse?"

Glancing down at my omni-tool, I thought for a second before answering. "Just let me grab something to eat and I'll be right over. Maybe twenty minutes or so?"

"Perfect, I'll be waiting for you Wolf."

I let her end the call and my hand ran through my hair almost without me thinking about it. "This really is not going to end well is it? Might as well head downstairs and at least let Daxy know what's up." Following my own advice, I headed to the lower floor and tapped the turian on the shoulder before throwing my armored coat back on. "Hey I gotta head in for a meet up, I'll be back late tonight. I'm gonna ask Tali if she wants to stay over, she can take my room if she wants and I'll snag the couch."

My longtime friend just nodded, already slaving over his latest project now that his last one was done. "I'm sure Lia will be happy about that, they seem like they've bonded fairly well already."

"Glad to hear it." I grabbed a power bar and ripped it open, shoving it in my mouth as I waltzed past the two quarian ladies. "Don't go too crazy while I'm gone you two. And Tali," I pointed to the woman in purple, "you're more than welcome to stay here if you don't have a place locked down already."

"I couldn't possibly st-"

"You're not imposing, we'd love to have you, so find a spot that looks comfortable and if anybody's in your way then kick them the hell out. There's no more discussion." I rushed out of the door, waving as I escaped the building. "With that said, make sure you take it easy tonight ladies, I'll be back later on in a few hours I think."

The two ladies yelled a, "have fun," at my back and I just waved a bit. "Fun," isn't exactly the word I had in mind but hey, at least I might get a shiny new toy after this whole experience is over. I guess that's worth something right?

 **A/N: Since I won't be posting before then, Merry Christmas to all you folks who celebrate it and congrats to all the college students out there who have suffered through Finals week. Enjoy the break before being tossed back into the grind. Also by the time you're reading this I'll (hopefully) be watching Rogue One which is finally out after what feels like forever, so hopefully that doesn't suck. Also, since I'm trying to hurry up and post this before going to meet up with some buddies there won't be a question this chapter, just the usual review answers.**

 **Big thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing to Beta for me.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Blaze1992: Well Wolf's not quite in trouble yet but the fact that Cerberus is a known issue now could create problems for Wolf going forward.**

 **Observer01: Looks like he's safe for now, as far as the future though…who knows ;)**

 **GJD: Thanks, not quite yet but he's definitely going to have to be careful going forward.**

 **Worf359: Hell yes, the krogan classes were so much fun, I just remember spending hours running around with that freaking insane hammer and smashing everything in sight, lol.**

 **Ender Mahe: Damn, thanks a ton for the detailed reviews. There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing an outside perspective break down the story. And as far as your Jenkins thought goes, you might not be too far off there.**

 **Thedude19859: Glad to hear it!**

 **Fallout Fan: I actually do kind of have the sort of rough draft of their falling out in my head but it's still very fluid. The way I usually write is to kind of have a rough outline of how I want things to go but once I actually start typing sometimes it just goes on its own. Cerberus definitely will not take kindly to the possibility of Wolf leaving though, I'll say that much is a for sure thing. Also, you're not exactly spot-on with the thoughts about the Brit but you're not far off either. I'll definitely say that Cerberus has her on their radar, but the exact capacity will remain in the dark for a while longer still.**


	18. Full House

"Wolfert."

I was greeted at the door to the little backalley apartment that served as a Cerberus safehouse by Miranda Lawson herself who quickly waved her hand and indicated for me to come in. As I stepped into the room, the lack of nearly any furniture except for the barebones minimum you'd see in any other Citadel apartment caught my eye. In the place of frilly decorations, there stood armor stands and weapon workbenches situated around the room wherever there was room. I then finally took note of Miranda's rather simple appearance. Instead of the usual mission attire that consisted of a form-fitting catsuit or the dress that served as her, "undercover," gear, she was wearing simple silver fitness shorts and a deep blue sleeveless tee shirt.

"Nyx." Smirking, I quickly tried to figure out which version of the black-haired beauty I'd be talking to today. "Or is it Miranda right now?"

She took a seat at a table stool that was pulled up to a kitchen counter and indicated I should do the same. From the knowing look on her face, my not so subtle question was noticed. "Miranda's fine. Unless you would rather I call you, 'Dolos?'"

"I think I'm good." Obviously she had picked up on my disdain for my alias and was needling me right back.

Taking a seat across from the woman, I grabbed a bright red apple that sat on the counter, dusted it off on my jacket and then bit in. "You really should wash that first you know."

In between bites, I grinned. "I think germs are the least of my worries considering my chosen line of work."

"Fair point." Without another word, she leaned back and grabbed a datapad before setting it down on the island between us. "Is this what you saw at that base?"

A large brown insect-like creature with two nasty looking tentacles stared back at me. "Yeah that's it. The one I saw was frozen and shit before being turned into swiss cheese by our squad's resident krogan warlord but still, the similarity's there…I'm assuming that's a rachni then?"

"That's correct. I did a little digging in the time it took you to make your way here and even though I had a hard time believing it, even with our resources, the fact that you and our other agents all have the same story confirms it." She shook her head. "The other creatures found were just as unbelievable as well but if the rachni are back then there's no reason to doubt the truth of it."

"You mean the plant zombies right?" That was about the only thing I could think of that would shake the unflappable Miss Lawson. "I didn't tangle with those things thank goodness but apparently they were some kind of bipedal plant-based lifeforms that spit acid as they tried to claw your face off."

"I'll make sure to add that to my files." She was intently studying the device in front of her but I could see the little grin at my rather descriptive explanation of what the other teams had encountered.

For a little while both of us were content to just sit there in silence, me munching on my piece of fruit and her attending to whatever business she was taking care of. Eventually though my short attention span when it came to social situations reared its ugly head and I coughed loudly.

"You uh, you mentioned something about a new piece of tech?"

"All in good time Mr. Wolfert." That expressive little smile was still there. The one that said, "I know more than you, we both know it and I'm going to enjoy taking advantage of that."

I thought about responding with something, anything to try to move this process along but I quickly thought better of it and resigned myself to waiting until she had done what she needed to. That didn't stop me from pointedly exhaling loudly as I dropped my chin down into my hands. This might take a while.

Thankfully, it only took a couple more minutes before she gingerly set the datapad down and looked at me. "Well, since you've done such a good job waiting patiently I suppose I'll reward you with a description of this new equipment we've developed."

Condescension laced her words and I growled accordingly although I wasn't really angry. It was more a little bit of social posturing than anything else, even if she had the upper hand in just about every way I wasn't going to take it lying down...that would possibly come later if this went like our encounters usually did. "Don't patronize me Lawson."

"I wouldn't dream of it." At was if I had personally insulted her entire family with the simple sentence. "Now for the upgrade." She held up the tiniest little piece of metal. It was small enough that for a second I wasn't even sure if the lady held anything but then the kitchen light reflected off it, confirming it. "This is something our Biotic Research Division just whipped up a couple months back and only our most talented agents have received it."

"Yeah but what is it?" Despite my patience earlier, at the three words, "Biotic Research Division," I was practically drooling. So far everything I'd received from Cerberus tech-wise had been top notch. Whatever else you wanted to say about them, they knew how to make good shit.

"They call it an, 'Electronically Enhanced Element Zero Reader.'"

"Well that just rolls off the tongue."

"It oversimplifies things but I've taken to calling it, 'Eezo Vision,' simply because that's what it does. The device registers any amount of Element Zero that is currently in action and registers it with a blue glow. Whether it's the activation of an attack in the human body or simple machinery, you'll be able to see it's flow in action once you turn on the hardware."

Instantly, I saw its application. "This would have been good to have a couple days ago when a bio-enhanced boot was being slammed into my chest."

"Not only that but our field operatives have reported a tremendous increase in learning new abilities. By studying other biotics and the path of the element as it flows throughout their nervous system, they've been able to pick up new techniques in a fifth of the time it would take another combatant of the same relative ability."

"That…sounds incredibly handy." Yeah, so much for the whole not eating out of her hand thing. I was like a hungry dog that just had a steak shoved in front of its snout.

"Incredibly so. Unfortunately, its effect has been limited thanks to the fact that it needs to be installed into a helmet or other similar piece of headgear. In your case however-"

Laughing loudly, I finished her thought. "I've already got a fake eye so it can be installed permanently right?" When she nodded I just shook my head, laughing at the fact that my old wound was coming in handy for once. "I guess I've got Granin Rokneba to thank then."

"Those were probably words you never imagined yourself saying."

"No you're spot on there, I think this is probably the only instance where I'm grateful to that SIU bastard for something." I pointed to the little piece of equipment in her hand. "So are you installing that thing or what? If it's going into my eye, even if it's the fake one, that seems like a job for a professional. Unless of course the repertoire for the perfect woman also includes the ability to install delicate hardware like this."

Both arms crossed her chest and Miranda went into full mission mode out of nowhere when just seconds ago she had been content to laugh right along with my stupidity. Or maybe it was at it. Either way she wasn't finding it funny now and I'm not even sure if it was something I said or just bringing up the installment of the thing that did it.

"We actually have someone qualified on the way over here. This isn't technically his usual field but he was on location and said he'd be willing to." The agent tapped her toe and glanced down at her omni-tool. "He actually should have been here three minutes ago. Hopefully he hasn't been held up, I'm not exactly in the position to retrieve a captured asset right now."

As she shook her head, the door knocked and I glanced over to see that she had pulled a pistol from a nearby locker and already had prepared it for use. In turn I pulled my own out of the interwoven pocket of my armored jacket and made towards the door. "That wasn't the agreed upon knock so be ready to fight on my go. Try for non-lethal measures if possible."

"Understood." I'm really glad Chakwas can't see me right now. The tongue lashing that I would get would be of epic proportions to say the least so hopefully I either get out of this fully intact or just die right off. With what she would do to me if I came back with new scars, death was honestly preferable and that's only a slight exaggeration on my part.

The two of us sidled up to the door, weapons drawn. There was a moment's silence before Miranda gave the nod and I unlocked it. Before I could ID the single intruder other than the long black hair, she had pulled them into the house with her biotics and placed the pistol against their head. I was now situated behind the kneeling person who had a very irate Miranda Lawson standing in front of them and I could see her face shift from alertness to a resigned annoyance a split-second before she moved the pistol away.

"Damn it Panacea, you almost had me kill you there."

An oddly familiar voice that I recognized but couldn't place answered back. "Would you believe me if I told you I forgot the, 'all clear,' signal?"

At least now I knew it was a guy. With the long hair it was a bit hard to tell since that was the only defining feature I could make out. "Since it's you, yes. Now get up and see to the patient before I think any more about how much you've inconvenienced me."

"You're right, you're right." He raised his arms in mock surrender. "I'll get this done so you can go back to not so subtly trying to get Wolfert to spend the night…again." Her mouth opened at that but nothing came out. Instead she just gave a glare and retreated from the room. "Well, guess we've got some time to catch up just me and you then. It's been what…six years? Good to see that you finally joined me in my little undercover gig."

By now he had turned to face me and I grinned. "Yeah. It's been a while since Arcturus hasn't it Jiro? Although I can't say that me agreeing to this deal was one-hundred percent voluntary so we differ on that last bit."

"Well you know what they say, everybody's got their price." The Asian doctor grinned as he examined the device that Lawson had left for him. "Ever since I saw your file and started digging into you I knew you had potential but I honestly never would have thought that you'd climb this high."

He closed the gap between us and hesitantly offered a hand. We hadn't been friends per se while I was at Jon Grissom Academy learning to be a Vanguard but there was more than a few times that I had taken lunch with the doctor who specialized in the field of biotic anatomy. I guess that extended out to biotic technology now as well.

After I took the offered appendage and shook it, he walked back to the front door and grabbed a briefcase before rejoining me in the main room. I could see Miranda skulking in the back and threw a wink that only rewarded me with a scoffing toss of the hair. "You could come watch if you want. Hold my hand and get me through this scary operation with the big bad Doctor Jiro."

"I'll join you once he's out of here."

The doc turned to me and grinned. "I swear I'm usually much more successful with the ladies. It seems that you're a particularly sore point for Miss Lawson however. Haven't seen her get that worked up over anything in a long time."

Shrugging, I followed the doctor over to a reclining chair that would have to serve an alternate purpose today. It wasn't ideal obviously but it wasn't like I was being opened up, just having something installed into a piece of artificial hardware that also happened to serve as my eye. You know, it's actually really weird when I say it like that.

Taking off my coat and setting it on the back of the chair, I finally responded. "I don't know doc, she seems pretty chill to me."

"Trust me." He took out a large syringe and I started squirming in the chair. The fact that I was a six foot three biotic didn't matter one bit when it came to needles, they still scared the shit out of me. "I've worked with Miranda on quite a few occasions and this about as animated as I've seen her get. There's a reason she's nicknamed the, 'Ice Queen of Cerberus.'"

Ignoring the fact that my skin was being punctured by metal, I stared at the ceiling and laughed. "Trust me, I've seen more than my fair share of the icy side too."

"Yeah but you call it a side, that's the difference."

All of the sudden, the room started to swim around me and I could see a brunette mop of hair that framed a pale face peering around the corner. "Still though, I guess she is a little bit of a-"

 **LINE BREAK**

Oh God where am I? I came back into consciousness only to find myself shirtless in bed. Slowly, the jumbled thoughts in my head combined to remind me that I had undergone a treatment thanks to Doctor Jiro Toshiwa, the Cerberus mole I knew from back on Arcturus Station.

I blinked slowly as I swiveled so my legs were off the bed and touching the cold, thin carpeting that served as a floor covering. The beginnings of a headache were building in the back of my skull and the effort that it took just to keep my eyes open, particularly the fake one in my left socket, was annoyingly strenuous.

"Keep them both open." An Australian accented voice broke through my internal monologue. Turning, I saw that Miranda was seated in the corner of the room, fingers flicking over the orange display coming from her personal omni-tool. As she spoke, her posture never changed but her head rose so we could make eye contact. "Toshiwa said the adjustment process goes much smoother if you just let it adjust right off the bat. He had to recalibrate your eye a little to make sure that the addition wouldn't harm your sight in any way."

"Got it." I fought the urge to rub at the objects in question and instead threw both hands skyward in a stretch that lasted a good fifteen seconds. "How long was I out for?"

"Two hours and thirteen minutes. Approximately."

I chuckled inwardly. Only Lawson would describe that as an approximate count.

"Well thanks for keeping watch over me." I grabbed the tee shirt that I had been wearing underneath my outer shell of clothing but instead of putting it on, I threw it over my shoulder which got an eyeroll from her that I just winked at. "What? The least I can do is not deprive you of the view all of the sudden now that I'm back up and moving."

"How kind of you." She hesitated for a moment and with a big crash, I flopped back into the bed on my back. "So how has your time on the Normandy been so far?"

"Haven't been discovered yet so that's something." I paused. "Caleb seems to deeply trust me for some reason I'm not quite sure of yet, Chelsea though is too volatile to be sure about."

"I wasn't looking for a mission report Wolf."

"Oh." Now she was the one grinning while I looked like an overly task focused workaholic. "This feels weird. Isn't is supposed to be the other way around where I goad you and tease you until that professional shell of yours gets a crack in the armor?"

"Well I'm currently all caught up on my different operations for once so I was going to search for some sort of diversion but since you're the only one around it seems I don't have much of a choice…"

"Hey a win's a win even if the other team forfeits right?" Stomping deliberately across the room as Lawson eyed me the whole time with an entertained expression, I picked the woman up and set her down so we were looking directly at each other. "Guess I'll just have to try to amuse you as best I can then since I'm currently your only option and I don't seem to have much else to do too either."

"I thought you were on doctor's orders to rest?" She pressed her forehead into mine and I could feel her warm breath tingling my face and trickling down onto my neck. "I'm sure I could find something else to do if I'm going to get you in trouble."

"I'm going to get into trouble anyways, can't help myself seemingly." I flashed a grin before I moved my lips down to her collarbone. "It might as well be because of you in this case I figure."

A light blue aura started to surround her and I watched in fascination as thanks to the new tech I could now see a flow of deep light start at her spine and work its way out her arms until it ended at her fingertips.

As she used her biotic abilities to massage my upper body, I leaned back into the chair. "Not to be a buzzkill here because I'd rather it not stop but the eezo vision's working."

The brunette woman just gave a pleased, breathy little sound as the distance between us closed again. "I'm glad to hear it." As the glow disappeared, she put a finger to my lips though. "That's enough work talk though."

"Again, that just sounds weird coming from you."

Playfully, she put her hand against the crown of my head and pushed lightly. "Do you actively try to kill the mood every single time or is it just sheer coincidence?"

"Little of column A, little of B."

 **LINE BREAK**

"So, what are you going to do now?" Miranda ran a hand through her hair as the two of us just lay there, not wanting to move just yet seemingly.

I raised a couple hands skyward, indicating my lack of knowledge on the matter. "Dunno. I'd imagine the prisoner we captured is being interrogated right now and hopefully they'll be able to get some info from her as to Saren's whereabouts."

"I see. So you're stuck playing the waiting game."

"It's definitely not the way I'd want things to be but there's really not too many other options. Right now I'm just another member of the ground team waiting for the commander's orders."

The woman next to me shook her head. "Well that's not entirely true. From what you've said and everything I've heard the commanders seem to trust you implicitly. Well, Caleb at least."

I laughed at that. "I'm assuming your mole on the Normandy relayed me and Chels' little spat to you?"

"Of course." The Cerberus agent gave a light little chuckle of her own. "Granted, even if we didn't have someone onboard there I probably would have heard about it anyway. Two N7's as famous-"

"Or infamous." I cut in.

"Or infamous," she conceded, "as the two of you tends to generate its fair share of buzz in the ranks."

"And neither of us were exactly too quiet about it. Half the damn ship probably heard the fight itself and the other half got told by somebody else in the next few minutes afterwards." Grinning stupidly at the recollection of the fight, I tucked my hands behind my head and looked at Miranda. "You of all people probably know how well I take anybody grilling me about the shit that happened in Detroit."

"You were rather angry back then. Even compared to your normal self."

"Hey that's not very nice at all."

"You didn't say it wasn't true either." At the correctness of the statement, I just shrugged and conceded the point. "Although I will say you seem like an almost entirely different person compared to back then."

"I could say the same for you." Looking over at the omni-tool that was on my wrist, I sighed as I got out of the bed the two of us shared and started to get dressed. "You still have that cold, focused, analytical side without a doubt but it doesn't seem to be your default way of dealing with people. Well, me at least I should say. Those walls or whatever you want to call them, seem to come down a whole lot easier than a couple years ago."

She stayed there in the bed, just watching as I went through the whole process. "I'll admit that I have more than a fair amount of difficulty when it comes to…trusting people. But so far you've been nothing but worthy of that faith as well as being a valuable asset and it would be unfair of me to treat you that way when you've done nothing to earn it."

"Plus I'm just so good looking you can't help it." I winked as I zipped the jacket up.

"To keep your pride intact, we'll go with that."

She smirked as I slowly made my way over and gave her a final kiss goodbye. "I'll keep you updated with what's happening. The usual system."

"Understood. I'll be in touch Dolos." She indicated towards the door with her head. "The box out there is for you to take as well, you can call it a bonus."

I just shook my head as I left the room. "Sounds good Nyx." My hand went up and pointed to my eye before I reached down and hefted the decent sized crate onto my shoulder. "Thanks for the little toy. And let Jiro know it was nice catching up with him."

As the door closed behind me I just heard her annoyed scoffing. Bringing up Jiro was my subtle little attempt at firing back in our eternal war of bantering. Granted, her sarcastic wit was usually even sharper than my own which was saying something but I felt like I won this round at least which put an extra bit of width in my smile as I exited the safehouse.

Scrolling through my contacts, I pulled up the commander's info just to check in and make sure I wasn't missing any possible fun.

"Wolf, what's the situation?"

"Nothing right now commander, just checking in to give you an update on my lodging situation tonight and seeing if you need any help before I clock out for the rest of the evening."

"No I uh, I think I'm good here. Nothing we can't handle."

I should've figured that the commander couldn't go a few hours without something bad happening. "You sure about that, it sounds like you're a little preoccupied."

At that his absentminded tone left and he grew more firm. "No I mean it, we're fine here. There's been a few…odd encounters but like I said, we've got it under control. I'm assuming you're staying at the Armory tonight? Tali just checked in a little while ago and said she'd be staying there as well."

"Yeah I'll be there. I've got a quarian woman who works for us and lives there as well so I was hoping they'd hit it off. From Tali telling you that I guess they both settled in nicely, otherwise she would have booked it out of there already."

After my latest update he sounded relieved. "Well that's good to hear."

"My place is open for anybody who wants to swing by and spend the night too. Not sure exactly how everybody'll get to sleep but I'm sure I can find a little corner for 'em."

"Thanks for the offer. I'll pass it out to the team and see if anybody wants to take you up on it." Something loud sounded in the background and before I could comment, he continued. "Are you there now?"

"Nah I've gotta stop by my guild first. Also, was that gunfire?"

There was a long pause. "No. Our uh…skycar engine just misfired. I've gotta go though, we'll rendezvous at the Armory later."

"Right. Of course." The commander wasn't the best of liars but if he didn't want my help, then I wasn't going to badger him about it any longer. Saying that he was fully capable of handling his own business was something of an understatement.

I hung up and that was when it hit me. Is Commander Shepard actually planning to stay the night at our place? Granted, I had thrown the offer out there but it was more of a perfunctory thing since I was the only member of the ground team besides Garrus who actually lives on the Citadel and I doubt he has the room to fit the entire team. Still the fact that anyone would take me up on it, let alone the commander wasn't something I was planning for. Should probably give Daxy a heads-up on that.

" _Hey. Sorry for the late notice but we might have some extra guests tonight. They'll be military for the most part so a simple little bedroll's just fine. I'm stopping by the guild to check in and make sure everything's good, once that's done I'll be home."_

I hit send on my omni-tool and ran a hand through the stripe of hair that stood right in the center of the rest of my closely buzzed locks. "Well this should be interesting at least. Hopefully it's just the commander, Tali and maybe Chels."

Instead of taking a cab, I just walked the rest of the way to the guildhall and mindlessly punched in the combination before entering the main room of the converted warehouse facility that now served as the home of the Wyrwulves.

"That you Wolf?"

I looked up to the upper levels to see that one of the guild's Senior Hunters, Senmia Narnianus was making her way down to the main level, her pace seemingly picking up now that she had spotted me.

"What's up Sen?" I flashed a toothy grin as her own mandibles gave a little flutter.

"Spirits, what are you doing here? I thought you were off saving the galaxy and getting us in good with the Alliance?"

"I'm on leave actually right now. We have a couple day's break while things get straightened out and restocked." The purple-clad turian with matching facepaint came close and as I set down my present, the two of us hugged before breaking the contact. "More importantly though, I came to see if you've asked Lia out yet."

"Right. About that."

"Senmia…" My foot tapped and I crossed my arms across my chest which caused the turian women in front of me to break eye contact. "I told you what would happen if I came back here and found out that you hadn't at least made some progress past the casual flirting session every now and then."

Ignoring the subject, she chose to focus on a much more manageable topic. "Please, you think that little bit of intimidation scares me human? I'm the second ranking hunter in this guild after all and that's saying something."

"Oh I know you're scared." I bared my teeth as she did the same. "You're lucky that I've gotta go check in with Liz upstairs otherwise I'd drag you to the sparring mat and whoop your scaly ass here and now."

"That so?"

"Oh it's a fact you overgrown featherless bird."

I started walking up the stairs to the second floor where our guildmaster, the disenfranchised asari Lismeni Selori's office stood. As I made my way up, the turian couldn't help but get in a final word. "You better keep walking you hairy ape. I never got what it was that asari like about that insane little tuft on top of all your kinds' heads."

"Hey I don't question what works and neither should you." I took a second to compose myself before giving a sharp triple rap on the door that led to Selori's private place of business. "It's me, Wolf. I just got back in so I figured I'd check in with you before heading home for the night."

Nobody answered but it took only a couple seconds for the door to part in front of me and standing there was the asari matron who served as the guild's leader. As evidenced by the deal she had cut with the Alliance to procure my services, despite her seemingly carefree nature, underneath there was housed a sharp, cunning mind. I don't know if it was before or after she was basically kicked out of the asari circles of power for her views but she hid behind a thick layer of flirtation and flippantness that belied the tactical nature with which she viewed the world. The only things that really brought out that hidden side of her though were either mentions of her past which held their own dangers or the prospect of a business deal at which that little gleam in her eye glinted brightly.

"Wolfert!" For the second time in just a short span, I was hugged. "I thought you would text me before stopping by. And here I had no clue that you were even in the area." She pointed down to the low-cut dress that was the style of asari. "If I had known that you were stopping by I would have worn something much more appropriate for the occasion."

I laughed at the little game the headmaster played. "Well Guildmaster Selori, for not dressing up I think you look positively radiant. And something tells me that even without me giving you prior warning, you knew of exactly what was going on anyway."

"That's entirely possible."

She looked like a shark. A regal, finely clothed shark but still a predator that knew her hunting grounds from the depths to the reef. You didn't rise to her position despite the odds if you weren't extending your reach into every little corner to find out exactly what was going on. That was why despite having one of the lowest membership numbers, the Wulves had such a high capture rate. The info that we received from our boss almost always put us one step ahead of the competition, which meant the difference between bringing in your bounty and being the runner-up.

My leader cocked her head and her expression returned to normal. "Although I do appreciate the compliment still. The art of flattery is one that your people seem to have taken to quite easily and that's a common bond we seem to share."

"Well it's rather easy to be complimentary considering the subject in question."

The matron threw her head back and laughed loudly. "You are a real treat Wolf, you know that? I've missed having you around the guild, almost everyone has to be honest. Especially Sen and your little trio of friends though."

She didn't have to specify which ones. The odd friendship that I had stumbled into with the Asian man, batarian woman, and asari maiden was peculiar but the four of us had struck one up despite the odd image the four of us cut whenever we went out in public. Especially when you consider the fact that everyone but Akihiro himself knew that Sasvin had a major thing for him. Allyna just hit on everybody, but she was an asari so that wasn't too out of the ordinary considering her youth.

"I've missed you guys too. I'm not gonna lie and say I've been miserable since it's been something of a homecoming for me with the Alliance but I do wish I was just hanging out in the hall with everybody sometimes." I cracked my knuckles and leaned back. "Things have gone well though…all things considered. And that's in spite of me being me too."

"In the short amount of time we've known each other, you do seem to attract more than your fair share of trouble. I'm pleased to hear that it hasn't been anything you can't handle one way or another however."

Well, I don't know about all that. The Cerberus/Miranda situation seems to be pretty slippery but so far I haven't completely fucked things up yet so there's that at least.

"Guess I've gotten used to it." I shrugged in my chair and sighed. "Alliance has come through on all their promises though?"

That cunning grin came back as real business was on the radar again. "That and then some. Not only have they provided weapons and armor almost at cost but we've fostered such a strong relationship that they've passed along certain…sensitive targets that it wouldn't look good for them to bring in for one reason or another."

"Nothing too dirty I hope?"

It might sound hypocritical coming from me but I'd rather keep some of the guildmembers' noses out of the filth if I could help it. At least, as much as you can when it comes to this line of work.

A blue-hued hand waved at me dismissively. "Nothing you need to worry your furry little head about."

"It's called hair."

"Hair, fur, what's the difference?" I watched a trail of bright blue flow through the woman's body as her hand moved and simultaneously, I felt a little tickle run through my tight stripe of hair.

Even though I knew it wouldn't do anything, I couldn't help but itch my scalp vigorously which made her laugh hard enough to scoot her wheeled chair backwards. "And here I thought **I** didn't take work seriously."

"What's the point in being cunning and scheming to try and make sure your guild stays leader of the school if you can't have fun now and then?" She grew deadly sober. "The reports are true though about the geth coming back? I didn't believe it despite all the evidence but reports out in the Traverse are that the pirate warlords have ganged up and even still, they're being driven steadily back."

I don't wanna know how she has insider info on the top scum in the galaxy but hey, that's part of her job I guess. It was a bit unsettling but I'd rather have her passing me info than going out into the field completely blind. It was part of the reason why everybody, even the stoic professionals in our guild like the turian Therick had nothing but adulation for her.

"Yeah, we've run into the geth, even fought 'em personally on Therum. Took a shot to the shoulder and almost got blown up for my troubles but I'm still in one piece for the most part." Shaking my head, I thought back to the Armature that I had dismantled via explosive charge. "They've cooked up some fucked up shit while they've been out there in the Skyllian Verge too."

One of her brow ridges raised in an obvious statement for me to continue. "They've somehow circumnavigated the regular biotic process by slapping a shit-ton of eezo on some of their troopers and wiring it to their robot hand-things."

"What?"

If she thought that was bad. "Not only that, they've got these things we call, 'Wraiths.' Their biotics aren't as strong but they still have them. In addition they slapped enough eyes on that thing so it sees in a three-hundred sixty degree cone, has these spikes on it that can turn people into mindless monsters and to top it all off the fuckers are about ten to twelve feet tall or so. And the worst thing is the husks. They're glowing creatures who seem to be more dead than alive, the only thing left that they know how to do is run at you and try to rip your face off with whatever's left. Hands, nails, teeth, doesn't matter."

Lismeni just thought about that for a moment. "Goddess. You've fought these…monsters then too?"

"Yeah." I couldn't help but shudder. "They seemed to be humans at one point. At least from the two legs and the smell of decaying flesh but it was hard to tell with the fact that they were almost entirely cybernetic by the time we put them down. I've seen some fucked up shit but those things, yeah they definitely take the award for that category."

"What is the Council going to do about all of this?" I could see the lady's blood starting to boil. "Those useless bastards are just like the old fishes back on Thessia." She pointed a finger at me. "You mark my words Wolf, they're going to sit back and pretend like nothing's wrong while your crew does the tough swimming out there in the deeps. And they'll keep doing it until either two things happen."

"And those would be?"

"Best case scenario you win and they **only** take all the credit and praise for nominating the Shepards, giving them a crew, blah blah blah, you see where I'm going."

I cocked my head. "What's the worst case then?"

"They sit back and do nothing while you try your best to bottle up the tide. By the time they realize just how much trouble is coming their way, it's much too late and the momentum of the waves just wash everything away like so much damn sand."

No words even came to mind. I just kind of shrugged and conceded the point to the lady. "On that super cheerful note, I'd probably better get back to the shop…it was good catching up with you Lizzie."

As I stood up, she walked out from behind her own desk, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then gave my other one a quick couple taps with her hand. "I'll miss you Wolf. Stay safe out there and make sure to come back once you're done."

I grinned and wiped off the little bit of purple lipstick that had left its mark. "So you can continue to profit off my ties to the Alliance?"

"Precisely." She pointed to the door. "Now get back there and get me in good with your bosses."

"Roger that bosslady."

Giving a quick little two-fingered salute, I whirled on my heel and laughed my way out of the building. It's funny, no matter where I went whether it was the Normandy or the guild, I seemed to be bound to run into unusual characters. Granted, they probably felt the same way about me but still, I seemed to be a magnet for oddity.

It wasn't too long of a walk from the guildhall but after all the errands and…other things I had been doing today, I didn't get back until late. As I made my way into the shop, I gingerly closed the door and locked it behind me before storing away the box for later inspection then tiptoeing my way into the kitchen to grab a late snack.

"Joker?" You could imagine my shock when one Flight Lieutenant Moreau was hobbling around the room, fixing himself something. "Not that I'm not happy to see ya or anything but uh...what are you doing here big guy?"

As I moved closer, I saw him meticulously scrape an egg and then flip it before turning to me with a grin. "Shep said the team's bunking down here for the night."

"The whole team?"

"Plus me, yeah." Oh God. I knew that it was a huge mistake when I offered up the place. "Commander wanted to keep an eye on everybody and make sure no one got into trouble overnight. Plus, it saves money on lodging."

"That cheap bastard!" I just shook my head and rubbed my temples vigorously. "I'm guessing all the prime sleeping real estate is taken up?"

"Just go take a look."

Taking his advice, I circled the corner and saw bodies liberally strewn all over the couches and floor of the living room. Garrus was stretched out on the carpet with just a roll underneath him and Shep was in the same position. Jenkins was stretched out in a reclining chair that was tipped all the way back and on the other side of the room, Wrex was straining the springs on a sofa. Shit, I'm going to need an entirely new set of furniture after this.

I heard slow walking behind me and just stared at the room until I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Omelet?"

My mind was too frazzled to respond so instead I just grabbed the egg concoction in both hands and devoured the thing in four bites.

"Figured you could use a bite after being out all day and then coming home to this." He smirked. "I looked through all your cabinets for some booze but I didn't find anything so this'll have to do."

"Yeah I got rid of it all a while back." I stated absentmindedly as I still just stared slack-jawed at the minefield of bodies of all shapes, sizes and species. "Wasn't healthy for my state of mind."

"Neither is seeing your house invaded to be fair." As he took a large swig of something, he gave a little nod and then took the last available chair in the room. Bastard. "You've got a nice place by the way."

"Think you mean, 'had,' a nice place."

The crippled man just smirked. "Yeah that's probably more accurate. Good luck finding a spot to sleep."

I just flipped him off as I stalked upstairs and quietly opened the door that led to my bedroom. Alright, I'd been tolerant so far but there is no way in hell that Ashley Williams is stealing my bed **and** my favorite pillow. Bitch has got another thing coming.

Picking my steps with all the caution of a stealth operator, I wormed my way around a sleeping Chelsea and Liara before finally reaching the edge of the bed where a snoring gunnery chief slept. In one swift motion, I yanked the comfiest pillow in the galaxy out from underneath the Marine and clutched it tight to my chest.

Apparently she was knocked out completely because there was only a slight hitch in her breathing pattern before she was right back to her regular state of affairs. Not that I cared right now if she woke up anyway.

With that out of the way, I shambled over to the bathroom, muttering and trying to re-fluff my bedding to just the way I liked it. By the time I entered the place usually reserved for other functions, order had finally been restored and grabbing a couple towels, I laid them across the base of the tub before tossing my pillow in on top.

Sighing loudly, I stripped down to my boxers, grabbed another bath towel, pulled it over me and tried my best to sleep. I can't believe this shit. Finally get to stay at my place and I'm sleeping in the motherfucking tub for the shower. Somebody's gonna pay for this shit. Tomorrow though, when I'm a lot less tired. Yeah that sounds good, for now though I'm just gonna roll over and try to get comfy. Plot my revenge once I get a bit of sleep.

 **A/N: Hey Happy New Year's everybody, hard to believe the year's already just about over but I think I say that every year to be fair. After this upcoming workweek I'm going to be taking a trip out to Colorado for about a week so my next chapter is probably going to be delayed since I'm not exactly sure if I'll have the time to sit down and edit a chapter before I take off.**

 **Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing to beta and also providing the question of the week this chapter.**

 **Question of the week: If you had to pick one video game world to live in (as yourself) where would you go? Or for that matter which ones would be the worst? I was pretty much raised on Pokemon so living in that world would without a doubt be number one, as far as worst goes it's kind of a toss-up between Borderlands and Fallout for me personally since I'd die in about five seconds in either of them.**

 **Review Answers:**

 **Dekuton: I haven't written quite that far ahead yet but yeah, the odds of a blow-up is pretty high considering the personalities and factors in play here. And yeah, writing a WolfxChelsea would be fun but their bad moments would be** _ **really**_ **bad, they'd be a ticking time bomb for sure.**

 **Observer01: Wolf's definitely not book smart but he's fairly good at reading people and using that to his advantage whether it's just to troll or in actual important things but he definitely doesn't mind playing up the stupid now and then. And one of the goodies has been revealed, the other will have to wait a couple chapters though ;)**

 **Tarikk: Good to hear from you man! Glad you're still enjoying it and I'm half with you on the pairing, they'd provide a lot of easy writing for me but at the same time they could also end up murdering each other since they're kind of too alike in certain ways.**

 **Blaze1992: Well he technically didn't explicitly lie, he just might have made it seem as if he rejected their offer for help when he really didn't. And you're right that he wasn't Alliance at the time but he still killed a lot of people who just happened to get in the way of his revenge and that could cause some major issues since it wouldn't take much to put two and two together.**

 **RSC: I actually watched Rogue One again last week and I actually enjoyed it even more the second time which kind of surprised me. It's still not a great movie I don't think but it's definitely really good and I am definitely buying it the day it comes out which is about the most I can say in terms of supporting a movie.**


	19. The Love Boat

**(A/N: Big thanks to Dekuton for writing out a review highlighting my error. For some reason I defaulted to Ash's dad being the one on Shanxi and I never caught my mistake during the whole writing/editing process even though I knew it was her grandfather. It's fixed now but that'll definitely be the last time I rush through an edit while short on sleep.)**

"Agh! What the-" Cold water splashed all over my face and upper body. "What the fuck's going on!"

A groggy female voice answered me. "Wolf? Why are you sleeping in the…shower?"

It was as if her own statement confused her. Not even bothering to answer just yet, I stumbled my way off the towels I had slept on and tried to grab a fresh, dry one. It took a couple seconds but eventually, one was pushed into my hand. I muttered a quick, "thanks," before finally managing to clear the water from my vision.

My eyes adjusted to the harsh glow of the brightly lit room but when they did, standing in front of me was Lieutenant Commander Chelsea Shepard, the first female human Spectre. Also, she was completely nude.

"God Chels, put some fucking clothes on!"

In a panic, I hurled the towel I had just used at the naked N7 in front of me and turned to face the wall. For the first time, she realized in her half-awake state what was happening and practically jumped into the shower I had just been sleeping in, pulling the curtain shut behind her.

For a second, everything was quiet and then a hand holding a pillow snaked its way out. "Um…this was still in here."

"Thanks." I noticed with displeasure that my favorite fluffy cushion was already half soaked but there wasn't much I could do about that now. "Good morning I guess?"

"Right. Thanks for opening up your place so all of us could stay here."

I laughed loudly. "Sure. I didn't exactly plan on having the whole team plus Joker take advantage of the offer but I'm glad it worked out." Again, everything grew quiet. "Any breakfast requests since I'm fully conscious now thanks to your little wake-up call?"

Giving a little chuckle to show that I wasn't angry now that I was mostly residing in the land of the living, I waited for her answer. "After my little shock to your system, I'll lighten up on the demands so just surprise me I guess?"

"Can do." I started to back my way out of the room as I pulled a pair of pants on. "Have fun with your shower. Take it slow on the heat dial, it gets scalding pretty quick."

"Got it, thanks for the heads-up and uh," she paused, "it's probably a good idea to keep this little incident just between us."

Scoffing loudly, I started to shut the door behind me as I spoke. "No shit, Caleb just about killed me when he found out that we'd happened to run into each other back at The Villa. If he knew that I saw you…like this, then you guys would be down one ruggedly handsome contractor."

"And that would just be an absolute shame."

The sound of water turning on echoed as I left the room and I shook my head. "Well that was a weird-ass way to start off my day."

Stretching and yawning as I made my way to the kitchen, I joined the only other occupant who seemed to be awake. The sounds and smells of a breakfast being cooked tingled my senses as I greeted the man in front of me. "Morning commander. You sure are up bright and early."

I had to hold back my laughter as I saw that the commander was slaving away over a trio of stovetop skillets while wearing my apron that read, _"Kiss me, I'm a Marine_ ," completely stone-faced. "I always try to maintain my ship-board schedule, even when on leave."

"Of course you do Shep." I went to the fridge and did a quick raid to grab some eggs, meats and other assorted food. "Have you whipped up anything for the non-levo members of the group?"

"It's already sitting over there." A black-handled spatula appeared over his shoulder as he pointed to the table. "There's not quite as many of them, even counting your two friends, so I figured I'd get that out of the way first."

Good idea. I stepped over to the man's side and watched as he gave me an aside glance. Right, forget for a sec that I'm still shirtless which means that my scars, tattoos and brand are there for all to see.

"That's quite the collection you've got there Wolf." He returned to his work and flipped over an egg with a little flick of the wrist.

"Yeah, got one for my old platoon," I pointed to one pectoral followed by the other, "a rather…unique one for my old gang back in Detroit," turning, I jabbed a finger between my shoulder blades, "and the last one's for when me and Woley made N7."

He studied the raised skin in the shape of a, _"10,"_ for a moment more and then just nodded. Nothing else was really said between us as we just went about the rather arduous process of cooking for a dozen people, one of whom was a krogan which counted for about three and then a few biotics as well which meant additional enlarged portion sizes to figure into the equation.

I heard a flanging yawn and turned to see my business partner and longtime friend Daxyrus Lenril joining us. "Good morning Wolf, commander."

"Morning Daxy."

"Good morning Mr. Lenril, I apologize again for the inconvenience but I do appreciate your hospitality towards my team and letting us stay even in Wolf's absence."

"It was my pleasure commander." He rummaged around and started to prepare the turian equivalent of coffee before seeing that a pot had already been made. "I never would have thought that the first human Spectre would be such a diligent cook."

"Yeah, can't say that I was expecting it either."

The blonde-haired man just shrugged modestly. "It was the least I could do, honestly. There's also dextro-based food on the table so feel free to dig in. Just cover it afterwards so some of the heat is retained for the people waking up later."

"Of course."

Taking a seat at the table, the turian grabbed a couple pieces of some meat that I recognized from seeing him eat it previously but couldn't place a name to. "This is delicious commander. If you ever retired from the military lifestyle, you could find a career on Palaven as a short-order cook."

Caleb chuckled lightly. "I'm just glad I didn't completely butcher it. I've only cooked dextro food a few times before and I figured today would be a good day to get in some more practice."

"That's an excellent idea." I pointed with the kitchen knife I had just been using to dice some tomatoes. "After the MRE's we've been eating, morale goes up regardless of how good the food actually happens to be. You get better at cooking for the dextro crowd and the team gets an upgrade in food. It's a win-win."

The commander shook his head at me and turned to the turian. "How is it that he sounds more focused and professional when talking about cooking than the shipboard debriefings we have? You've known him way longer than I have. Help me out here if you don't mind, Daxyrus."

In between bites, the former Cabal gave his opinion. "You've probably noticed but Nate here deals with stress in a rather extreme way."

"Humor and deflection seem to be the two main things I've seen."

I pouted. "It's cool, I get you guys are busy playing shrink at the moment but you do realize I'm standing immediately next to you, right?"

"Those do seem to be the major ones, yes."

Daxy agreed and carried on like he hadn't even heard me so I just flipped him the bird before turning to focus all my attention on the breakfast cooking in front of me. "You guys are both assholes."

"Then in the instance that he's not able to either make light of or just completely ignore it, what's the third option when the situation becomes too much for him to bear?"

Humming to myself, I just tried to rein it all in since having another outburst would be the exact thing that damn turian was hoping for right now. I did sneak a glance over my shoulder to see that he was pretending to be deep in thought while looking at me for a reaction. Bastard.

"There's a certain level where it definitely just becomes overwhelming for him and he can't play it off anymore. You'll notice it right away because all jokes stop, he gets this weird look in his one good eye and after that all bets are off."

I interrupted him. Despite my many character flaws, I was still self-aware and I at least owed the commander a little bit of insight into my personality even if I wouldn't go into the exact reasons why I am the way I am.

"If the enemy's in front of me I go into a sort of, 'berserker mode,' or whatever you want to call it. When I use my biotics I don't tap into serenity like most people, for me it's a primal fury so when the rage takes over everything gets strengthened by drawing out that emotion." I took a deep breath to stay detached and analytical. "Which is undoubtedly for the better because I get reckless and just attack what's in front of me without caution. If my barriers didn't get a sizable boost, I'd one-hundred percent be dead by now."

"Interesting." The commander stroked his chin. "So do you think that's something that you can tap into without having all the," he paused as if searching for the right word, "emotional drawbacks that come with it?"

When I didn't respond immediately he raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. "And I'm not trying to ask you to do anything you're not comfortable with or incite you in any way. As the commander I try to make it my personal mission to squeeze every last drop of potential out of my team and this is just me trying to learn."

"No no, you're fine Shep. I know you're not trying to piss me off or anything." I waved his worries away. "I guess I could try. The only drawback is that even if you're getting a boost in my combat potential for certain situations, others where we need heavy coordination it actually could be a drawback."

Out of the people in the room, only one of them had seen me at my worst. Thankfully he chose to speak up, trying to put clearly without saying too much the state of mind I went into in situations like the commander was describing. "I've witnessed it firsthand and Wolf doesn't work well with others in that situations. He becomes an extreme alpha-type personality which could clash with whoever's the current CO. Along with that, he can take some needless risks as stated previously."

"Yeah that's about right." Sheepishly, I shrugged my shoulders. "Plus, I'm kind of a bitch to talk to since I snap at just about anybody I come into contact with so that could cause rifts in team chemistry."

There was about twenty seconds where the only sounds was the sizzling of breakfast being cooked on a stovetop skillet. "It's probably for the better then that you stay at your current level of operating then."

"Sounds like we're agreed then. Although as a last resort if we're ridiculously overwhelmed, I could always give it a go."

His blonde hair bobbed at my words. "It would be a nice trump card to have in our back pocket. So far we've been outnumbered everywhere we go and I don't see that changing anytime soon."

A new and extremely bubbly voice entered the room. "Well that just means there's more for me to shoot then." Chelsea Shepard stepped in between the two of us cooks, thankfully fully clothed this time and put her arms around our shoulders. "I've just had so much fun running around with you two and smashing robots. I'll be really sad when we've pumped Saren full of bullets and this is all over."

Her arm left my side and snaked out into the pan to grab a piece of the food I was cooking. When I gave it a little warning slap she gave the saddest look I had ever seen, in response to which I just sighed loudly. "How is it that you can go from talking about, 'pumping Saren full of bullets,' to making adorable expressions like this in about a half-second?"

"Aww, do you hear that you two? Wolf thinks I'm adorable."

As she winked cheekily, Caleb gave an annoyed little grunt as if he wasn't sure whether to be more frustrated with her casual flirtatiousness or the person who was the subject of it. While he was still deliberating, she sashayed her way over to the seated turian and hugged the top of his head directly to her hip which made me laugh loudly at his general uncomfortableness.

"Thanks for being such a hospitable host Daxy." The platinum blonde turned towards me and stuck her tongue out. "Especially since Wolfy was off doing God knows what."

The older turian gave a cough to clear his throat before responding. "Of course lieutenant commander, it was my pleasure to host the Normandy's ground team."

"Daxy please." Now that she was free from the reaches of us two cooks, she pulled the plate of goods toward her and started snacking liberally while talking. "Just call me Chelsea."

"I'll try my best."

She peeked her head out so she could see the contents of the shop area of the building. "Didn't have the time to look at it really last night but this is a nice establishment you three have got set up here. What's with the name though?"

A bleary-eyed Gunnery Chief Williams shambled in to join the rest of us and without a word, I handed her a mug of coffee at which she just nodded thankfully before sipping the piping hot caffeinated beverage.

My turian partner hesitated to answer as he looked over to me and I gave a dismissive wave. "It's cool Daxyrus."

Turning to Chelsea, I stiffened a little bit without even meaning to. It's just that the last time the subject of my past was brought up…it didn't exactly end peacefully. The girl really has a unique talent for knowing just which of my buttons to push, intentional or otherwise.

"It's named after my dad."

Dawning comprehension crossed her face and she cringed with the realization. "The one who…?"

I hadn't mentioned specifics but somewhere in that rant back on the Normandy I'm pretty sure I mentioned getting my father killed. "Yeah. That one."

"I'm sorry Wolf, I didn't mean to-"

"Hey I said it's cool, right? I know you don't mean anything by it, I just don't appreciate people prying into my personal life, especially when it comes to my past." I tried to put on a smile but it only reached my mouth. "In this case though, I'm volunteering it so don't worry about it."

Caleb gingerly posed a question from right next to me. "So did your father run a shop like this back on Detroit then?"

"Yup." I popped the last syllable. "Although I should clarify he wasn't technically my dad. The cranky old bastard kind of took me in for some reason when I tried to steal a gun from his store. I still ran with the Reds as a junior member after that but he tried his best to make sure I stayed out of the really bad stuff and sat me down every night until I at least got enough of an education to read, write, do basic math and all that shit. Taught me how to fight too."

A genuine grin did cross my features now at recollecting all the happy moments we had together, even though he probably wanted to just pop me upside the head for being an idiot a good portion of the time.

"What, did he use to be in the military or something like that?" Chelsea tilted her head quizzically.

"Yeah, he made his way through the ranks and got all the way up to N7. Was in some sort of special unit that fought on Shanxi too so he was pretty big stuff back in the day I guess. Had a big old walk-in closet in our old place that was pretty much stacked wall to wall with medals, commendations and all that shit." I remembered the musty smell of the untouched awards fondly as I was taken back for a second. "He never liked to talk about it though. Most of what I learned actually came from other people who knew him back then."

The two ladies sitting at the kitchen table noticeably perked at that, although for Williams it just meant looking up from her intense stare into the black liquid in front of her as she took her turn quizzing me. "Your adopted dad was on Shanxi?"

"Yeah he was part of this rescue squad of Special Forces personnel that went in, grabbed some VIP's and got the hell out of there." Chelsea almost choked on the food she was eating and the gunny's eyes looked like they were going to bug out of their head. "They had some little pun thing that the group was designated as and they all had comic book aliases."

With a shake of the head, Daxyrus added to the conversation. "They were called the, 'Baker's Dozen.' Spirits but you have the worst memory ever Nate."

"Wait…Jack's Armory, right?" One of Chelsea's hands covered her face now and the other was pointed towards me, palm first in the classic, "stop," signal. "You're saying that you got taken in off the streets by Jack fucking Ramsey?"

"Yeah."

"Motherfucking Deadshot raised you…" She finally removed the hand that was blocking her face but now both arms were spread wide. "How in the fucking hell are you so God awful with a sniper rifle then?"

"I just never took to 'em?" This was starting to feel like an intervention.

She was speaking in almost trancelike state now in response to my lame answer. "You got brought up and taught how to fight by one of the most renowned snipers in Alliance history, top five all-time in confirmed kills and you fight like you're in a biotic bar brawl."

Ashley was just muttering some combination of, "he's raised by Jack Ramsey," with an added emphasis on the, "he," part as if it was some kind of curse word.

"Hey, my style of fighting gets shit done alright? It might not be pretty or graceful but if you need someone's head caved in then there's very few who do it better at close range."

The raven haired Marine finally shook herself out of her trance. "Did he ever talk to you about Shanxi?"

"Not much, all he really said it was a hopeless situation they had to make the most out of." I turned to Daxy. "Sorry, hope all this First Contact talk doesn't make you uncomfortable old-timer. You're one of the few people here who actually remember it."

His subharmonics trilled dismissively. "It's fine. It was a…confusing time for everybody involved. I'm just glad it's in the past and we're all allies now like it should be." He turned towards Williams. "As someone who was alive for the events, even if I wasn't directly involved, I can probably answer it better and say that as valiantly as you humans fought there it would have ended in a bloodbath if you kept fighting any longer than you did."

I pointed back at the turian, cooking utensil still in hand. "Pops said about the same thing, said they would have taken a whole lot of you guys with them but it would've been a needless sacrifice."

The chief just nodded back and there was silence for a little bit as everyone was content to eat, cook or just sip on the drink in front of them. As minutes passed, the rest of the team started to finally file in one by one.

"Jeez kid, give me two fucking seconds here." I had to push Jenkins probing fingers away as they tried to grab a piece of sausage from the sizzling hot pan. "Here," I plated an assortment of foods and handed it over to the impulsive Marine, "now go sit down like a civilized human being and eat with everybody else. Hot damn, now I know why we're fucking called, 'apes,' sometimes by the other races."

"Thank you sir!"

Apparently being reprimanded had caused him to relapse into the old days when I had been his teacher. We had been making such good progress too in terms of him calling me by my actual name. Instead of responding, I just contained my sigh and shooed him away with a flick of the wrist.

"Please make a proper line. Between me and the commander here there's plenty to go around so you'll get your turn." Turning towards the krogan, I gave him a little nod. "Even for you big guy, Shep got a headstart on it so we've got things covered here." A satisfied sounding grunt came from his mouth and obediently, he fell into line behind Garrus.

"Wow Mr. Wolfert, I am shocked that you are such an adequate cook." I turned and gave the asari a little thumbs-up as she sat next to Mitch. "Forgive me for saying that I was not expecting too much from this meal but your human food has a unique juiciness to it that is quite excellent."

"No offense taken at all." I shoveled out another big portion and handed it over to the ship's pilot who sat down on the couch in the living room since the kitchen table had quickly filled up. "When you're living with two dextro people you've gotta learn to fend for yourself if you want anything done. I'm glad it's to your liking."

Eventually, Daxy and Lia went out front to run the store which left just us Normandy personnel crowded in the living quarters that was meant for only three people. "Alright, I figure this is as good a time as any to update everyone on the current situation. What do you think Chelsea?"

She held up a finger as she downed a glass of orange juice before setting it down with a resounding clang. "Let's do it. You go first."

"Right." He got up from his position on the couch and started to pace the room as he talked. "The Council has been interrogating the asari we captured back on Therum and I just got a message shortly after I woke up this morning that through her they've found out Saren's next move."

"Well, not Saren exactly." Chelsea took her turn speaking and from the glances Liara's way, it didn't take much to realize where this was going. "When she finally cracked, the asari mentioned Noveria over and over again in her insane ramblings." The elder Shepard shuddered. "And when I mean cracked, I really mean cracked. I heard the voice recordings and she started talking about cleansing the galaxy, purging it with the Reaper's power and all kinds of-"

"Getting back on topic." Her brother quickly intervened before it could go too far off the rails. "The Council's spies quickly diverted assets to Noveria to double-check and apparently, a large force of Asari Commandoes led by Matriarch Benezia was recently seen there."

The room went quiet and everyone's eyes were drawn to the maiden sitting on the couch, one hand demurely folded over the other. She didn't look up from her position of staring at the floor but the quiet intensity in her words was something to behold. Especially compared to her usual rather reserved tone. "May I say something commander?"

"Go ahead Miss T'Soni."

"Thank you." She collected herself for a few moments and then launched in. "You all can believe me when I say that this changes nothing in terms of my arrangement of working alongside the group of you. I had…considered the possibility that we would eventually cross paths with my mother but now that it is seemingly rapidly approaching my mind is even more set."

She finally looked up and stared into Caleb's eyes. "I know that there are no guarantees in war but I want to be there when you confront her. I have to know for myself why she chose to side with Saren. I have to try and understand what reasoning drove a person such as her to this…madness."

"Of course Liara. I can't predict what will happen but if that's what you truly want then as long as it's reasonable I will do my best to make sure you're there when we speak to her."

"Thank you."

Having said her piece, she grew quiet again and Mitch put a comforting hand on her back. I couldn't tell what was said between the two of them but she listened and gave a quiet nod while sniffling back the tears that were starting to threaten her.

The commander himself stood back up and placed a hand on her free shoulder as well before talking once again. "It is fair to assume that as they were spotted moving a large shipment of cargo that they will be extremely well armed, with the possibility of geth being there also very likely. Noveria is outside of Council jurisdiction from my understanding, which means that it has been stressed to me multiple times that we are to try our **very** best not to step on any toes."

I raised my hand and Shep gave a nod. "So basically they're saying to ignore any illegal activity and look the other way for a bit just so they don't get in trouble with whatever government is actually in place there?"

"That's about it, yes."

Chelsea interrupted with a look at her brother. "However, the both of us agree that if anything extremely heinous is witnessed, you have our full permission to put a stop to it. Just try to avoid killing them in the process if you can." The blonde's lips parted and a toothy grin was now present on her face. "The both of us are still Spectres after all. That means we have a fair amount of leeway when it comes to being pardoned and we're willing to answer any idiotic questions the Council might have about our actions."

"To sum it up. Use discretion, but we trust you to act with common sense in terms of determining the appropriate action. You spot somebody smuggling a gun, maybe it's better to let it slide. You spot somebody smuggling something with a brain, do what you need to do to try and shut them down."

A general chorus of understanding went around the circle. "One more day is needed to restock the Normandy and make sure the new Mako and ship-to-ground shuttle are fitting Alliance specs which means we will be leaving at zero-six hundred hours tomorrow morning, standard shipboard time, so be sure to be at the Normandy fifteen minutes earlier with everything you need."

"Today though, you guys are free to do whatever." Chelsea spread her arms wide. "So go ahead and blow off a bit of steam before we get back to the regular schedule of things. Dismissed."

The crew stood up and made their way back to the various rooms to either get changed, freshen up or some combination of the two. Eventually it was just me and the chief left in the room, I was feeling rather comfortable on the couch so I didn't feel like moving and she seemed like she had something on her mind.

"What's up Williams?" Leaning back into the worn but comfortable piece of furniture, I stretched skyward. "You worried about Noveria or something?"

"No. Not at all." She shook her head but the same distracted look was still there. "I'm confident we'll deal with Benezia and whatever forces she's brought with her. We haven't failed so far and I don't think that our winning streak will stop anytime soon."

I blinked a few times and wavered between continuing the line of questioning or just staying quiet before deciding to go ahead with it. She did seem like she had at least somewhat softened up towards me in the last week or so we'd worked together, at least compared to the icy hostility at the beginning. Maybe now was the right time to try and make actual progress towards not hating each other.

"So what's the real issue then?"

"Just been thinking." There was a few seconds of silence before she looked up from her rather unfocused state. She smiled almost apologetically which was something of a surprise for me, I hadn't really seen her show anything emotionally other than Marine stubbornness so far.

"Sorry." And that's another first, she's actually apologizing for something. "I guess I owe you an explanation about earlier."

I racked my brain for something momentous that had occurred but nothing came to mind. "Uh, sure?"

"About Shanxi. I was kind of grilling you on it and with your dad being deceased I hope I didn't hit a sore spot."

My shoulders moved upwards almost on their own in an attempt of deflection. "I mean sure, I'm still nowhere near over what happened back home, my yelling at Chelsea back on the Normandy proves that much. I think I'm starting to learn talking about the good times we had is better than dwelling on the negative aspects though."

"Right, well." The positively stone-cut woman was almost squirming now. Whatever she had to say wasn't something she was going to enjoy seemingly. "My grandfather was on Shanxi actually."

"No shit? Huh, I wonder if my old man ever ran into him. It's a small world isn't it, the two of us with ties to-"

"Wolf please shut up and let me talk." Even though the words were a bit harsh, they weren't delivered with her usual vitriol. "He was the one in charge of the garrison there."

I gave a silent, "ohhh," of dawning comprehension. That explains the line of questioning and why she wanted to know about the incident so badly. Her grandfather was **the** General Williams, the only human to ever surrender to an alien force and for that he was blackballed from the Alliance military. Even though it was total bullshit and anyone with half a brain knew that he was in a hopeless situation, it did nothing to change the fact that he was treated as a pariah for his decision to lay down arms against a vastly superior force.

No words even came to mind besides for a lame, "I'm sorry," which she just waved away. "It's nothing you did. I just felt that after all the talk today, explaining why I've been such an ass was probably the right thing to do."

"Well I appreciate that." I gave her a light little tap on the shoulder. "To be fair, I've been a bit of an ass myself so you're not completely unjustified."

"Yeah but I started it though." Well I couldn't argue with that. She was pretty much at full-go from the drop of the hat. "I guess I was just…" She ran a hand through her long locks. "Damn but I hate apologizing."

"It's cool chief. Don't worry about it."

"No it's not, God help me I'm going to finish what I wanted to say." She looked skyward and it almost looked like she was praying for divine aid. Alright, I'm not **that** much of a pain to deal with. "I just wanted to say again that I'm sorry for treating you the way I did. The two of us are kind of similar in that we both have events from our past that have heavily affected how people view us and instead of sympathizing with you because of that, I got jealous of your accolades and the fact that you're an N7 and the Shepards both came to trust you despite the fact you're not even Alliance anymore." She actually laughed a little bit at herself. "And probably the fact that you just don't give a shit what people think when I'm trying to reverse an entire legacy by myself while I'm still being kept down for things I didn't even do."

Taking a moment, I just thought about what she said. The least I could do was try to give a measured response to the woman who had just opened up in a way that I had not been expecting at all. "I…I think I understand where you're coming from. And for the record I think it's fucking awful what they've done to your family name. He saved a lot of lives and the fact that people shit on him for that is atrocious."

"Thank you. I realize now that I probably should have just talked to you about all this at the beginning instead of just assuming that you paint me with the same brush that all the Alliance bigwigs do."

"Hell yeah you should have. If there's anybody you can go to for bashing the political figures in the upper ranks that don't do shit, I'm your guy." I saw a little shine starting to appear in one of her eyes and moved in closer. "Is the hardass Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams crying?"

"Hey fuck you." She slugged me in the chest and I fell back, laughing all the while. "And this whole thing doesn't mean I still don't think you're an asshole."

"That's completely fair. I've never claimed to be anything else." I put out a hand. "So can we start fresh then? I continue to not give a shit about your past or who your dad happens to be and you can do the same when it comes to the whole, 'Butcher,' thing."

"I think that's reasonable." She took my hand and vigorously shook it before letting go.

"Good. If there's one thing you should know about me it's that I'm big on judging people for their individual merits. I didn't come back here because of my love for the Alliance, I did it for the people involved."

She got up from her seat. "I understand. We probably have extremely different views when it comes to loyalties then but I can respect where you're coming from."

"And I'll do the same for you."

A new voice entered the room. "So are we all one big happy family again now?"

"Chelsea!" Ashley's scream shook the room as her well-tanned face grew insanely red. "How long have you been there listening?"

"I only heard the last bit." She came in and plopped down on the couch, shoving me over with her feet as she did so. "To be honest, I was hoping it was going to be more sloppy. Or explosive. Either one would have been fine with me really."

"My money was on the two of you having hate sex at one point." Our crippled pilot entered the room right after and thank God the chief didn't have a gun on her because I think she would have used it right then. "Guess I owe somebody money."

While I was finding all of this hilarious, she most certainly was not. Through strained teeth, she managed to grunt out a few words. "There was a betting pool?"

"Oh of course. What else are we going to do on those long, boring voyages?" The female Shepard answered the question in the pilot's stead, giving a little shake of the head as she did so as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Since it wouldn't technically count as fraternization if you two did it, the return wasn't that great, otherwise I totally would have banked on it. Glad I didn't now though…unless of course-"

"Not happening." The both of us answered simultaneously.

"Fine. I guess I'll just have to hold out hope for my brother then."

"Wait, wait, wait, what?" I shook my head at the woman. "You're gambling on your own brother's love life?" 

"I hate to be with Wolf on this one but I agree, it does seem to be a bit immoral."

"Good to have you back to normal chief." Opting to go fully back to the old state of things, I winked at her and she just flipped me off in return. This time though there was a tiny bit of a smile as she did it.

"No it's totally fine." Both of her hands were now raised in an attempt to cool us down. "I'm not going to interfere in any way so it's not **technically** insider betting."

"Kind of missing the point there Chels but let's move on from that."

"You're right." She nodded. "I'm just surprised that you two aren't asking who I bet that he would hook up with."

"Don't want to know at all."

"Same here." Ash looked over to me. "Did you have anything to do today Wolf? It doesn't even matter what, just anything that would take me away from here and all of these hormones? It's like high school all over again."

"Yeah, I've got a doctor friend who runs a clinic here that I was going to check in on. Just let me grab my coat and we'll get out of here."

I practically run into my bedroom to grab the plated jacket that I usually wore out in public. Before I rejoined them, I tucked my talon dagger into a sheath that rested between both shoulder blades and my M11 into my coat's rather hidden breast pocket. Call me paranoid but with my penchant for attracting trouble, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

As I rejoined the two ladies and Joker, Ashley was practically covering her ears and yelling to drown out the noise of the, "love pool," betting ring details. "C'mon Ash, you just poured your heart out to him and now you don't want to hear who everybody thinks he's going to hook up with? I figured you of all people would be interested."

I grabbed the dark-haired woman's shoulders and started to escort her out of the building. "And that is most definitely our cue to get the hell out of here."

"Wolf you're just in time, I need you to use your-"

"Nope. Bye Chelsea." The two of us practically ran out of the store and I slammed the door behind me which got a few weird looks from shoppers passing by. "That was way too fucking close."

"You're telling me." A relieved look crossed the gunnery chief's face. "Chelsea's a really nice person but oversharing is something she's seemingly never heard the concept of."

"Or that personal space is a thing which actually exists."

 **A/N: Hey I'm back! I survived snowboarding in Colorado wholly intact (except for being sore as hell the next two days) and now classes have started back up so yeah…hurray for that. I had a ten-day drinking streak going while I was out there but I think I'm detoxed and back on track now so the bi-weekly posting schedule will return starting today. In other news, fuck but the Switch disappointed me. Zelda looks awesome and more Fire Emblem is always great in my book but the rest just didn't really excite me which sucks because I was looking forward to that press conference. We'll see though, I'm really hoping they surprise me going forward and I'm proven wrong.**

 **Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing to beta for me and analyze the insane ramblings that are my brainstorming messages.**

 **Question of the week: Mass Effect Andromeda? (Yes, that's it. I would love to hear your guys' thoughts on the trailers.)**

 **Review replies:**

 **GJD: Thanks!**

 **Dekuton: Lol, I love throwing that quote out whenever applicable. And don't worry, it will be revealed in chapter 20 I think? Don't hold me to that though, it might be 21 too.**

 **Coduss: Nailed it in one, lol. It was a bit cliché but I just wanted to have a fun little character chapter and that was a good way to kick it off.**

 **Jacob: WolfxMiranda is definitely on the table. There's about four LI's that I'm seriously considering Wolf with and she's one. Chelsea would be fun to write but yeah, that relationship would be seriously unstable. Pretty much a textbook ticking time bomb.**

 **Worf359: Oooh, hadn't thought about that one. Besides the racism, Infinite was definitely a pretty cool place so I could see picking that one. And yeah, the more I read about Warhammer, the more I understand why so many people said the same thing.**

 **Blaze1992: Well, hopefully you held in the vomit. After all the fighting, I felt like a fluff chapter with some character interactions was in order.**

 **RSC: I think Pokemon is pretty near the top of just about every 90's kid's list, lol. And yeah, Mass Effect would be a pretty neat one too…as long as you were in that sweet spot between First Contact and the Reapers or wayyyy after.**

 **Observer01: Eezo vision is definitely going to be a useful tool in Wolf's arsenal and as he starts to use it more, its utility is only going to increase. As far as hiding it goes, there's no visible way to see it as its basically hidden in the existing machinery of Wolf's fake eye and he doesn't plan on revealing its existence anytime soon.**

 **Dixorn: Glad you liked it! Hopefully I'll be able to keep living up to your expectations!**


	20. Wolf Versus the Crime Boss

"Nathan it's so good to see you again!" The kindly doctor pulled me into a hug as I stepped into her medical clinic. "I didn't get the chance to thank you properly at the time, but I very much appreciate you helping out Miss Zorah. When she showed up wounded here and told me her story, I just didn't know who else to turn to for protection."

"Don't worry about it Chloe, it was my pleasure." I gave a little hand wave to shrug off the doc's thanks. "It actually all ended up working out perfectly and I joined up with the Shepard's faster than I would have otherwise so if anything, I should be thanking you."

The red-haired woman gave a nod towards my companion before turning back towards me with a raised eyebrow. "And who is this with you Nathan?"

At seeing the doctor's inquisitive tone, the gunnery chief rushed to an explanation. "No no, it's not like that. I'm just one of his crewmates on the Normandy, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. Wolf here was saying he had some things to do around the Citadel so I volunteered to go with, that's all. Someone has to keep him out of trouble you know?"

"Trust me, I've had to patch him up after one of his little fights more than a few times so I'm well aware of Mr. Wolfert's penchant for getting into trouble."

As the two ladies laughed at me, I fired back indignantly. "Hey! I'm fully capable of handling myself."

"Your state of affairs after tangling with that krogan in the ring would seem to indicate otherwise." The doctor studied me for a moment. "Also, as gingerly as you are holding your chest as well as the slight limp you seem to have acquired only serves to add to my beliefs on that particular subject."

"How the hell did you end up getting into the ring with a krogan of all things? And walk out in piece for that matter?"

"I cheated of course." Ashley stared at me incredulously and I just shrugged. "That was a rough time in my life though. I had just moved to the Citadel after my dad and Emma's deaths so the only way I could exercise some of that frustration without killing anybody was the underground fighting events. That and drinking myself into a coma at night. Thankfully I kicked that to the curb before signing up with you guys though, haven't touched a drop for a while now."

"Good. I'm…glad you're doing better."

Doctor Michel added to my words in the pause after Ashley's halting statement. "He's been a big help to me actually. A lot of the reason I've been able to help as many people as I have is because of Nathan's charity. After each of his fights he'd come by and donate a large portion of his winnings to the clinic while I patched him up."

I just looked at the ground, embarrassed at the attention I was getting. "It's not like I needed the money."

A loud ring came from the other room and the doctor hurriedly excused herself from the room. "I'm sorry you two, I've been waiting on a call so I really need to take this."

The both of us nodded as she practically sprinted away into the other room.

There was a few moments of silence before Ashley punched me in the shoulder out of nowhere. "You know, this was a lot easier when I was able to just write you off as an asshole."

"If it makes you feel better, a lot of it was pure guilt. My fiancé was a nurse who loved helping people and I guess I just saw somebody doing the same thing she would have if she were still alive. Everything was kind of inevitable after that."

"Still. No matter the reason you did it, you help enable her to care for people like Tali. She needs to get money somehow and if it doesn't come from you, then the patients would have to be charged more which means that someone out there is going to be excluded."

"I guess. Still doesn't change the fact that I did it for entirely selfish reasons."

"You're a fucking idiot." She tapped me on the chest this time and I recoiled at her touch on the tender part of my torso. Even through the armored jacket, it still didn't feel great. "Most things people do is because of selfish reasons. I do everything I can do just to try and redeem the Williams' name. If that isn't a self-centered reason I don't know what is. What matters is that your aspirations in life, even if they're not altruistic," she gave me a pointed look, "line up with good things. You taking the time to reach out and help someone like the doctor, lets her do the same for other people around her that she can aid more directly."

I let the words sink in for a moment before turning to face the woman next to me. "That was oddly philosophical for such a hardass Marine chief."

"Oh shut the hell up Wolf. I take it back, you're still a major asshole."

A large sigh of exaggerated relief came from my mouth. "Whew. That was a close one there, I think I almost got on your good side for a second."

"Not even close." Her voice went low and she mumbled an insult which made me laugh. "Damned prick."

The two of us grew quiet and the only sound that could now be heard was the increasingly loud voice of Chloe Michel. "I'm telling you, just give me a bit more time and I'll have your supplies." Shit. That doesn't sound great. "No." She exhaled angrily. "There's no need for you to go to that drastic of a measure. I'll scrape something together and have it over to you within the hour."

I turned to Ashley and gave her a significant look. "Ok. If I offer to help get her out of what's a painfully obvious blackmail situation, will you still think I'm an asshole?"

"No promises here."

"Shit."

I tapped my chin as the doc came back to join the two of us, frantically running a hand through her hair. When she saw the two of us looking right at her, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Damn it…you heard all of that didn't you?" When the both of us just gave a brief yes, she began to explain. "My medical license was rejected at my old place of employment. I gave out free medical supplies to people in need and when they caught me, I was terminated on the spot and my ability to do my job was revoked."

I saw where this was going. "After that you had to get in with the wrong people to get a clinic going again and now they want to collect because of that tiny little favor you owe them."

"That's…about right, yes." She hung her head. "After things went wrong at my former place of employment, I just didn't see any other way to help out the people who needed it most."

"So." I absentmindedly fished the pistol out of my chest pocket and handed it over to Williams. "Where you supposed to meet this guy?"

She quickly crossed the space between her and the Chief and I, frantically trying to interrupt me. "No that's not necessary at all. Violence isn't going to solve this problem Nathan."

"Relax doc, I wasn't planning on it."

"You weren't?" I turned only to see a provoking grin on Williams' face. "I mean that's kind of an upset considering it's you we're talking about here."

"Oh you're just killing me with your quick wit gunny. It's positively unbearable." I turned back to the redhead to try and illustrate what my outline of a plan was. "If things go like I want them to, no one's going to be hurt. However there is always that threat and considering I always have my biotics to fall back on, I just figured it'd be safer for the both of us for her to have the gun. Just in case."

I pointed at the dark-haired Marine who was taking great care to tuck the suppressed pistol into the back of her pants. "Be careful with that by the way. I got her from my pops and she holds a special place near and dear to my heart." Patting the concealed little pocket where she usually rested on my left pectoral, I laughed at my own terrible joke.

"Don't worry Wolf, I'll make sure to take good care of her for you. She won't get a scratch."

"Good." My attention focused back on the troubled woman in front of me. "So who do I need to meet with for you?"

She hesitated for only a brief moment before giving a name. "Morlan. Down in the lower wards. He's my contact for drop-offs like this."

"Oh I know Morlan. Hard to forget a slimy bastard like that once you meet him." I whirled on my heel and gave a backwards wave as we left. "We'll be back once your problem's taken care of Chloe. Just uh, have the medi-gel on standby just in case."

A nervous laugh escaped despite the situation. "I was already planning on it Wolf."

Williams elbowed me in the ribs as we walked out. "Wow, she really does know you pretty well."

"C'mon chief, it doesn't take much to realize I got injured on an almost daily basis."

"That is very true." A mischievous twinkle glinted as her head whipped towards me. "And speaking of injuries, I wonder just what Chakwas is going to say when she hears that you've been getting yourself into some dangerous situations despite her orders?"

I gasped. "You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?"

"There's just blackmailing going on all over the fucking place today." We began to cut through the crowded marketplace, making our way slowly towards the more seedy portions of the Citadel where, "Morlan's Famous Shop," sold its goods. "So what's your price then Williams? Everybody's got one when they resort to stuff like this."

The Marine took her time, clearly enjoying the position of superiority she held over me. Fear of Doctor Chakwas was greater than my apprehension at what dark and most likely embarrassing deed the chief would have me commit.

"All this running around the Citadel has worked up my appetite again. I could use a bite to eat."

That was a misstep. "If you wanted to ask me out Ash, you didn't have to go this far. I don't find your company **that** bad."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

I cut her off, trying to press my advantage before she could recover fully from my initial blow. "Although, I do wonder what the crew would say if they saw us together, just sharing a nice meal. Especially after our step towards reconciliation today." Shaking my head in mock sadness, I had to try really hard not to laugh at the annoyed sounds spewing out one after the other. "We both are, or were, Marines in my case. Once scuttlebutt starts to spread around a ship like the Normandy, it just takes hold in people's heads."

"I hate you so much."

"Don't they say something about hate only being a step away from lo-"

Her hand moved towards the back of her jacket as we began our descent into the bowels of the space station. "You finish that statement and your gun is going to have to find a foster parent."

"Noted."

Even though I really wanted to keep having fun pushing her buttons, something in the icy tone told me that stopping while I still had a fully functional body was the right choice to make.

"Since I'd rather not take the chance and be seen on anything that could remotely be conceived as a date, we'll compromise and get something to go. After we deal with this whole business of course."

The nonchalance she waved it off with made me smile. Something about facing off with killer robots, tech zombies and well-armed terrorists made you treat things like this with a little bit less worry than most other people would go into it with. Then again, neither of us were exactly what you'd call, "normal people."

"There's a Chinese place just a few blocks from Morlan's. We can snag it on the way home and eat on the way."

"Works for me."

We were now closing in on the shop, as indicated by the change from the nice suits and casual wear that was worn up top whereas now the clothing was noticeably rattier and the occasional armor set could be seen. Williams seemed content to just watch the passerby carefully as we went, up until the silence got to be too much for her.

"I know you said something about a plan up there but what are you actually going to do to convince them to leave her alone?"

A moment passed before I answered. "Same thing I usually do. Throw my weight around and act important until they get the point that I'm not to be fucked with. Then I'll tell them to leave the doc alone and make sure that they know the consequences of going against what I've said."

"Wow. I feel like I should be surprised but I'm really not at this point."

"Hey don't worry. As far as tactics go, I've got a solid head for them in the moment." I trailed off. "The overall strategy I have a harder time plotting but you know, get enough of your tactics right in the moment and I figure it'll all work out in the end."

She just stared at me for a moment. "I get the combat ability and all, hell I've seen it firsthand and I'll grudgingly admit you earned it, but how the hell did you pass the book portion of The Villa?"

"I'll just put it this way. For someone who's six foot three, I'm good at being sneaky when I need to be. Detroit taught me that at least." I straightened up as we finally came in view of the shop. "Also, I stole answers from Mitch whenever I could."

"That sounds about right."

"Just follow my lead and look tough-like." I looked back at the woman who was smartly pulling her loose locks back into the standard ponytail she wore it in on combat ops. Not that I was going to tell her that. "Oh good thinking. You look way tougher already, that bright hairband will absolutely just send them running."

"Oh fuck you Wolf, if I have to shoot someone I don't want my hair getting in the way."

I began to whisper now as we approached the stand where the salarian store owner did his business. Apparently he was hard at work, judging from the muffled sounds coming from behind the kiosk.

"You should just buzz down the sides and spike it up like mine then. Don't have to worry about stray hairs and at the same time you look like you mean business."

"Looking like a tool is more like it."

I let her have the last laugh as we were now within an arm's length of the store. When he didn't hear my approach, I gave a loud, exaggerated cough to alert the salarian shopkeeper to our presence.

"Morlan. We need to talk."

With a shout of alarm and a couple flying boxes, the jumpy alien leapt to his feet. "Oh! Mr. Wolfert, I uh, thought that you had left the Citadel. Word was that you hired back on with the Alliance. Thought that you'd be off doing military things." I let him stew in the uncomfortable quiet for a few seconds. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"I'm helping out a friend. A friend who said that you could put me in contact with someone who's currently causing trouble for her." His eyes jumped from me to the chief. While we were talking, she must have casually drawn the gun as she now held it in front of her waist between two crossed hands. "Doctor Chloe Michel has helped me out a lot in the past which means that I like to return the favor for her when I can. Lucky for her, my CO gave me a shore leave for today which means that I'm free to do just that. Isn't that great Morlan?"

Unsure, he opted to play along. "Of course! So great for everyone involved! However…"

"I don't like however's Morlan."

He gulped slightly. "I'm not supposed to call my contact until the doctor is here with the amount agreed upon."

"Say Morlan, did I tell you who I signed up with?"

"Alliance. Didn't hear anything other than that."

I began to pace back and forth, letting a slight biotic aura flicker around my arms to punctuate my statements. "How forgetful of me." My palm went up to my head. "I report directly to Caleb and Chelsea Shepard now. You might have heard of them? First human Spectres ever appointed by the Council?"

"I know, I know, it's crazy right?" Fully playing up the act, I laughed loudly. "Somebody like me, the Butcher of Torfan. A guy who's made a successful career out of stomping out people who get in my way, just happens to fall in with people who have the power to pardon just about anything if they deem it necessary for the greater good? I mean come on, talk about a match made in heaven."

"Yes that does seem quite fortunate." The salarian's eyes were blinking a mile a minute now. "I'm sure my client will be just fine with the change. Meeting someone like you, far more important I'm sure. He'll have to understand."

"Oh he'll just be thrilled, I'm sure of it. What do you think Williams?" With the most stone-faced look I'd ever seen, the chief just gave a single nod. "Glad you agree."

In a matter of seconds, Morlan had typed a frenzied message on his omni-tool and sent it. "There. All done now. Client will be here within five minutes."

"I appreciate the help so much." Feeling a little bad for making the guy sweat so much, I offered an olive branch. "Pretty sure we can handle things from here so why don't you take a little lunch break Morlan?" Digging in my pocket, I found a small credit chit and tossed it his way. "Courtesy of the Alliance."

"Yes that does sound good. Thank you."

He practically sprinted away and once he was out of sight I finally relaxed. I haven't had to play that routine in a long damn time. "Damn Wolf, have you ever thought of being a mob boss?" She shook her head. "If I didn't know better, I would've probably made the call too."

"Well thanks. And for what it counts you made a properly terrifying henchman."

"You think so?"

"Hey who's the former gang member here?" I gave a self-deprecating little look at the woman. "I think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this kind of thing."

A second passed and the two of us were left in the small marketplace alone now. "So what do we do now Wolf? I'm new to this not having direct orders thing."

I took a look around the surroundings, before moving to place my back against the wall. From here I could see both entrances into the place and any ambush would come from right in front of me. Paranoia saves lives folks.

With that out of the way, I slouched against the wall and finally answered the chief's question. "Yeah those commands from on high really make things a lot easier don't they?" I shook my head. "Right now though, we just wait. I'm not sure who we're going to be dealing with so just follow my lead in general. If I'm trying to look threatening you do the same, just don't attack until I kick things off though."

"How will I know if you're trying to look threatening though?"

For a non-biotic, that might be a problem. I however could surround any part of my body with an intense violet-blue mist that signaled death for the object that had gotten me pissed off.

"It'll look something like this." I put my back to the woman and focused on channeling it into my hands first, then letting it coil around my arms and down my chest in a slow, exaggerated show of force. "That clear enough for you?"

"Yeah. That does the trick."

"Good." A single pair of footsteps could now be heard. "Because I think the lesson will have to end right here."

Pushing myself off the wall, I made my way towards the shadowed figure making its way towards me. As I went into my opening speech, I took in the appearance and immediately decided that it was either human, batarian or asari from the gait and size.

"I thought you'd never get here. I'm not the biggest fan of waiting, especially when it comes to people who've wronged my friends."

The species was cleared up as soon as he spoke. Hell I even recognized the voice. It'd been a little while since we'd met after the former Tenth Street Red's leader Curt Weisman passed thanks to a shadowy, "assassin," but when you run with somebody for as long as we had with each other, you don't forget after a little thing like time passing.

"Well I'm sorry to make you wait. When Morlan told me just who was negotiating on behalf of the doc I came here as quick as I could."

I stared at the man in front of me wearing casual attire. He could've passed himself off as any normal human on the Citadel if not for the red, "10," on his sleeve. Hell most people wouldn't think twice, passing it off as some company logo or shit like that but of course I knew what it really meant.

"Didn't think you'd be the one I'd have to negotiate with today Finch. Hell I could have looked for some of the old shit I used to wear back on the street if I knew that you'd grace me with your presence." Shaking my head towards Ashley who was obviously extremely confused, I mouthed, "play it cool," as I stepped forwards. "I kinda thought the new leader of the Reds wouldn't be so conspicuous after his former boss was killed in his own office by some alien rival gangmember who didn't care for their racist ways?"

"I've taken great lengths to at least attempt to patch things up with the other businessmen here on the station. Whether they're human or alien, it's just good business." He grinned toothily. "And as for the one who somehow managed to infiltrate our base and take out Weisman, I would thank him if he were here. The Reds have never been so profitable."

"Yeah…if only he were here."

I shook my head at my former friend's self-congratulating statement. Right now both of us were just waiting for the other to make the first move, keeping a gap of about twenty feet between us. The fact that I had threatened to singlehandedly butcher the entire Citadel contingent of the Reds if he ever tried to come near the Armory might have had something to do with that. You know, if Williams wasn't here beside me and the location was moved to a dusty plain, this could have really been a proper standoff like one of those old cowboy movies from back home.

"So what do you need to leave Michel alone?"

I decided to break the silence while still requiring him to make the first real move. My intention was already clear going in so my hand wasn't really forced by any stretch of the imagination by my simple question.

"Well I know it's no use asking you to come back and be my right-hand man in charge of all the operations back on Earth, right?" I just laughed raucously at that. "Thought so. How's about a favor then? One for another."

"Fuck no." I didn't even have to think twice about that one. Last time I gave out a favor to a seedy pro-human organization I got stuck raiding an Alliance high-security prison. "Our level of interaction right now, with this big gap between us, is already me doing you a favor. I could charge across this gap right now, kill you in about two seconds and get pardoned for it afterwards because I'm best buds with a couple Spectres now. Hell since you're who you are I might even get praised for it. Only reason I'm not doing it is because we were good friends once upon a time and I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle of explaining things either."

"Well look who's turned into quite the little manipulator." He gave a nod towards Williams. "He didn't always used to be this way you know? Back in Detroit he was such a friendly guy. Of course, he'd steal everything in your pockets the second you'd turn your back on him but considering the circumstances, I think that's a forgivable offense."

Williams just cocked her head at the man. "Somehow I have trouble believing the first part."

"He's being nice. I was still definitely a sarcastic asshole back then, just less jaded…" I pointedly stared at the man who actually looked sheepish which surprised me for a second. The Red leader was staring at the ground, as if he fucking actually felt bad for what happened back there. Yeah you're not fooling anybody asshole. "Look Finch, I have shit to do so how much do I need to pay you to clear this little thing up?"

"Nothing."

I flared up and took a deliberate step forward and I could feel Williams preparing herself behind me. "I'm only going to say it once Finch, this situation is going to be fixed one way or another so make the right choice. The one that lets you walk out of here alive."

"Shit Wolf." He peeked around me to make eye contact with the chief once again. "Hey! Tell your boyfriend to chill out, I'm trying to make a concession here."

"He is not my boyfriend. Never has been and never will be."

"Thank God." I jabbed right back before refocusing on the gang leader in front of me. "So what do you want then Finch? I know you just about as well as you know me I think and you're not one to just give out concessions unless you're getting something in return."

"Would you believe it if I told you that I'm genuinely sorry for what happened to you back home? That I hate myself for the fact that I did nothing to stop innocent people from getting killed? That because of what happened you went on the warpath and wiped out a good number of people who suffered because of our leaders?"

"No. No I wouldn't. As I seem to recall you were just fine with killing innocents back when I was getting inducted so what's changed? Well I guess Daxy's a turian so you were probably just fine with him dying, he's not a person after all, right?" I cocked my head. "It's not like they're on the same level as us."

He continued to just hang his head at my verbal onslaught. "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, let alone your friendship but I'd like to try starting with this. I'll pull my people off the doc and let her do her thing in peace. She won't hear from me. She won't see me. And if any of my people don't listen to me…well I'll make sure that I let you know every little detail so you can take care of it yourself. That work?"

"I don't fucking trust you one bit but yeah, if that's what you're actually gonna do then that works."

My mouth opened and I started to talk but he raised a hand mid-word. "Yeah yeah, I know, if I break the deal you'll come back and kill me along with every single Red you can find." For the first time in a while, the grin I knew came back. "You're still completely predictable Wolf."

"Alright fine, last question before I leave though."

"I thought you had to go, now you wanna ask questions?"

A tiny little grin escaped me. "I just wanna know why you're doing this."

"Tried to tell you a long time ago Wolf, I've had a change of heart. My eyes were opened to the truth of how things really are thanks to someone who went out of their way to help me when I needed it most and I'm trying to make up for past mistakes in any way I can."

"If you really mean that then just step down. Back on Detroit you were always pushing for higher status and now that you've got to the top, you want me to believe that you're trying to do good just because you can?" I shook my head at him. "If you want me to believe this load of bullshit that you're trying to shovel on me, you can start by dissolving the Reds."

"Sorry but that's the one thing I can't do." The boss of my former gang laughed at himself. "I know it seems contrary to all logic, but right now I'm in the position where I can do the most good for the most people. Will a lot of them still be criminals at the end of the day, including myself? Yeah. We'll still be against the law but hopefully I can at least make sure that we don't go down as **racist** criminals. Baby steps right?"

Ashley stepped up beside me after having been silent almost this entire conversation and whispered into my ear. "I don't know your…acquaintance like you do obviously, but I'm pretty good at detecting when people lie. He doesn't seem like he's lying right now."

"Yeah I know Ash. That's what's pissing me off." I turned towards the brunette woman next to me with the concerned look on her face and tersely whispered before resuming my conversation with Finch. "Alright, you win. I'll take your word for what it is for now. Just know that I'll be strictly monitoring the situation and if anything," I jabbed a finger at him, "and I mean **anything** is off then I'm going to finish what I started back in Detroit."

I wasn't really going to but he didn't have to know that. While what happened back home was still a sensitive subject, the flames of vengeance that burned inside me after the deaths of Jack and Emma were all but extinguished. The main targets that were directly responsible for it were now dead and blaming the Reds for my loss would just be an attempt to cover up my emptiness with violence. It hadn't worked well for me so far as indicated by the self-destructive downward spiral I had only recently managed to start escaping from.

"So are we done here then?" The gang boss raised an eyebrow as he hit me with a curious look. "I leave the good doctor to operate as she sees fit, free of any, 'protection fees,' and the two of us go our separate ways without trying to kill each other?"

"Yes." At seeing my hesitance to accept, my stubbornness still rearing its ugly head, Gunnery Chief Williams stepped in. If the situation wasn't what it was, I might have been annoyed but I was actually thankful for her overriding my inclinations in this instance.

"Well. I guess that's that. So uh, you two take care and have fun on your secret mission!" Before leaving though, he gave a little wink to the chief as he waved goodbye. "And it was especially nice meeting you miss, take care of Wolf for me. He tends to get into trouble, especially when he's bored."

"Trust me, I know."

The Red just laughed as he made his escape and while his retreating back disappeared into the shadows, I turned to Ashley. "Huh. Well that went surprisingly well all things considered. Not having to beat the shit out of people to get my way isn't what I'm used to."

"That's disturbing Wolf."

"You uh," I scratched my hair, "you mind keeping this between us."

Grabbing my shoulders, the Marine pushed me to get me started and we started to exit the lower markets. "Long as you follow through on your promise of buying me food, sure why not. I don't know exactly what happened in Detroit but I can guess. If you want to talk about it, you can. I'm not going to push you one way or another."

"Damn. Can't get anything past you huh?" I smiled sheepishly. "And thanks. It feels nice to be accepted for who I am, dirty laundry and all."

"Hold it together Wolf. Mushy and sentimental isn't a good look for you."

"Does this mean I do have a good look?" I couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her. 

"Shut up."

The two of us made our way to the take-out place I had mentioned previously that was already in close proximity to the meet-up spot. It only took a few minutes for us to place orders, get our food and resume our trip back to the clinic to tell Chloe the good news.

"I know I said I wouldn't ask about your past but you two seemed like friends. Or you were once I should probably say. And you don't have to answer that by the way. Just me being curious."

"It's fine. You could have asked about worse." I slurped down the noodle and answered her question as we walked. "And yeah, Finch was pretty much my mentor so we were close at least. He was a full-fledged member of the Reds, a rising star who took me under his wing as he rose to power and I didn't mind helping him out on the way. Honestly, I'm still not quite sure if I was his friend, a nicely treated pawn who he kept around because I was convenient or somewhere in between. Still though, he pulled me out of the fire more times than I can count and that means something I guess so it was a weird friendship but I guess I'd consider it that if I had to label it."

She just nodded, popping a piece of chicken into her mouth before continuing the game of twenty questions. Strangely, I didn't mind answering though. "What did your dad think of that?"

After saying that, the dark-haired woman shook her head. "What's up?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's still just weird as hell to me that you were raised by Deadshot."

"I guess. He was always just, 'Jack,' or, 'Dad,' to me." Shrugging, I went back answered her initial thought. "But yeah, he couldn't stand Finch. Thought he was slimy I think or something along those lines. Considering his past I guess it makes sense. I could definitely see trustworthiness being a huge issue for a Teams guy. You know it's funny, it wasn't really the gang stuff he had an issue with I don't think. He always knew that I had a certain…rebellious streak, but he definitely taught me to be upfront with people." Mentally, I thought I should make an addition to that last statement. "Except for the suckers I stole from, I definitely lied a shit-ton to them."

"So what I'm hearing is that you're telling me you've just always been a jackass then."

She softened the blow with a grin and laughing at the woman's characteristic bluntness, I gave a nod. "Of course. Once an asshole always an asshole. You've gotta admit though, I'm not **that** bad once you get to know me, right?"

"No. I don't have to and I won't." Once again, the little grin that was more frequently appearing with her harsh putdowns made a showing. "Although I will say that on the scale, you're less bad than I thought initially."

"I'll take that as a win." I pointed to the food currently in her hand. "Does the dinner help at all?"

"Very slightly."

 **LINE BREAK**

"How did it go?" The redhead greeted us as we entered the facility, hands raised to either side of her chin in nervousness. "Were you able to meet with the client?"

"Yes." I got if out of the way right off the bat and seeing the smile light up the doc's face definitely made all the BS worth it. "I met with the guy who's been extorting you and he agreed after a bit of negotiating to leave you alone for good. And if he does come back, you give me a call right away and I'll figure some way to sort it out."

She ran forward to engulf me in a hug that caught me completely by surprise and simultaneously made Ashley try to hold back a laugh at seeing my awkwardness. After a second of shock, I got a hold of myself and managed to return the gracious woman's hold.

"Thank you so much Nathan." She finally let go and a single little tear started to drop that she quickly wiped away. "I owe you and Daxyrus so much, I'm not sure how I can ever really repay you both."

"Just keep helping people who need your help, that's payment enough. You sacrifice so much for the sake of others, I think it's only fair that you accept a little bit of protection from people like us who aren't good at much else other than beating up bad guys."

She sniffled slightly. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can do?"

"On second thought there actually is one thing."

"Great! Just name it and I'd be happy to do whatever I can."

I could feel a mischievous grin spread from one cheek to the other. "Since Daxy's never gonna do it, I want you to take him out on a date. That bastard's too absorbed in his work and he could afford to loosen up a bit."

"But…"

Her cheeks flushed madly at the topic I had brought up out of the blue. Both of my housemates needed a little kick in the ass when it came to their love life and since I only had a short time on the Citadel, there was no time to waste trying to manipulate the former Cabal into working up the courage to do it. Lia I had already started the fire with before I left so I didn't want to overdo it now with too much prodding, but the turian who's life I had saved back in Detroit was stuck on the figurative launch pad.

"Ah ah ah, no, 'but's.' Trust me on this one, you go up to him and tell you want to go out, you will make his entire month." Granted, he'd stammer and awkwardly fidget at the sudden come on but he'd get over it once they're out they're having fun. When she didn't say anything, I gave a parting comment. "I'm not actually gonna make you do it or anything, that's only kidding on my end but I do know he's interested in you…and I'm not the best at reading women-"

Ashley muttered under her breath. "That's an understatement."

"-but I think that you're at least a little bit interested as well, right?"

She hemmed and hawed but did give in eventually. "I suppose it wouldn't be terrible."

"Then it's settled." Clapping my hands together, I walked backwards out of the medical facility. "I wish you the best of luck doc, I'll stop by next time I'm station-side again."

"Wait!" She held up her hand. "I'm coming with you. No time like the present as they say."

Without another word, she ran off into one of her back rooms, presumably to change. It only took a second for some loud clattering to shake the shop and I gave a significant look to Ashley. "What's that look for? Just because she's a bit older than us, you don't think that means a lady's still not nervous and wanting to appear at her best? I think it's incredibly sweet."

"I didn't say that." Quickly, I surrendered before the verbal onslaught that appeared to be coming my way. "I'm just saying that was a quick change from reluctance to going all out."

"Sure you were." Despite my attempt, she still eyed me with a dubious squint. "And don't go making a comment about me being soft or anything like that or I'll spill the beans about you being a sentimental bastard yourself."

"I would never dream of it. However, I kinda thought that you'd have more of an issue with, you know."

"Species mixing?" She raised an eyebrow at me, probably wondering if I was going to completely step in it or cut myself short. "Because I'm some kind of xenophobe, right?"

"Again, never said that. I've just seen the way that you've treated some of the non-human squadmates and you've gotta admit, you are a bit standoffish with them."

She thought for a moment about how to answer it. "I have nothing against them personally. Vakarian is a professional all-around, Tali and Liara both seem like really genuinely sweet girls and Wrex…"

"Is Wrex."

"Yeah that's really the only way to put it." The chief gave a little nod. "Like I said, it's nothing against **them** or the fact that they're aliens. I just don't think it's smart to give them complete access to the most advanced tech and weaponry the Alliance has to offer. I don't think we're going to have another fight or anything but First Contact wasn't that long ago and there's still a lot of prejudice out there. Hell just look at Saren."

"But he's fucking insane. Says he's going to eradicate humanity and all kinds of supervillain talk like that. I don't think he speaks for the general turian public at all."

Just hearing about the rant he went on after his expulsion was unsettling to say the least. The fact that there was still that much hate out there was disturbing. And yeah, I do realize that's a bit hypocritical considering my track record with batarians, but I've never gone so far as to say I want them wiped out or anything crazy to that extent. I just happen to want to deck them whenever I come in contact with them. And they probably feel the same about me.

"No, you're right. But look at the Council. Even after bringing in an eyewitness and testimony from Shepard, they still wouldn't believe us until we had an actual recording of him saying it. You can't tell me that they wouldn't have treated it differently if it was some asari matriarch who brought the news to them." My head went side to side in a little movement that indicated I didn't disagree with what she was saying. "That's my only point. Humanity needs to be able to defend itself if necessary. I hope it never comes to that, but the possibility is still out there."

"Anything's a possibility Ash. I'll take my chances on the fact the other species out there aren't just waiting for us to turn our back to them so they can bury the knife in it."

"Well I guess we just disagree on that last point then." She gave me a sideways glance and lowered her tone as it appeared that Chloe was now making her reappearance. "I really never would have thought that the Butcher of Torfan is such an idealist though. If only I was a reporter I could have made a killing off a fluff piece talking about how much the black sheep of the Alliance wants to cooperate with everybody."

I just grinned and ignored the statement. Being called an idealist is kind of a new one for me to be honest so I wasn't quite sure how to react. Instead, I focused on the doctor.

"Wow Chloe, you look great! You know I'm actually a little jealous of Daxy now."

She had changed out of her medical gear into a beautiful high-collar lavender dress that in the latest style, had a little circle of fabric gone just above and below the breasts. The less conservative asari fashion of dress had apparently really caught on with the ladies of my species and I for one, was not going to complain about it.

At my flirtatious comment, she waved a hand and colored madly once again, her skin tone now almost matching the redness of her hair. "You're such a flatterer Nathan." She paused for a moment and did a little half-spin though. "Does it really look okay though?"

My squadmate next to me gave a big thumbs-up. "You look gorgeous Doctor Chloe. His jaw's gonna drop when he see you."

Apparently a female's approval was the important thing as now she was positively glowing. "Well, I guess there's no reason to wait around here then is there? I'll close down then join you guys right after so we can walk back together."

"Oh hell no." I shut that down completely. "If you think I'm going to make you walk all the way back looking as good as that, you're out of your mind. I don't mind making the chief here do it because she's a tough SOB and would try to beat the shit out of me if I pulled something like that but you're a whole different story."

"Oh I'd do it too."

"You keep thinking that Williams." I fired right back before getting the conversation heading in the right direction again. "I'm calling a cab right now and we'll fly back together. So you go do what you need to and then we're going to go surprise good old Daxy."

 **LINE BREAK**

"Nathan, Gunnery Chief Williams, glad to see you two made it back and without any wounds seemingly." The turian flashed his teeth at us in a welcoming grin. "I'm guessing that you had more to do with that than anything else though Miss Williams."

Seemingly eager since she had found a partner to tag-team against me with, she joined in the fun. "I figured that the Shepards would be happy with Wolf having a babysitter. The rumor is that he tends to get into trouble pretty easily."

"Alright, alright, that's enough of that shit." I turned around and jerked my head towards the door, where Chloe was hiding nervously. "I believe somebody here has to say something to you."

As the lady walked in, I found myself being dragged out of the room practically by my ear. "C'mon Wolf, give the two some space to talk."

"But I wanna hear!" I whined as the Cabal and doctor were left together. Thankfully, I was able to scream one thing before Williams pulled me away. "I'll watch the shop Daxy, me and Lia have got this shit locked down so you don't even have to worry."

Sighing, I walked into the back rooms of the shop only to see that practically the entire Normandy crew was still sitting around the table. Seemingly, they had decided to just refrain from moving in the entire time since I had taken off with Ashley this morning. "I swear to God you motherfuckers are going to eliminate my entire salary just in grocery bills." I activated my biotics and caught a leftover sausage roll from this morning that had been tossed at me by one Chelsea Shepard. When her response was just to stick her tongue out I sighed. "Right. And I'm the impulsive hotheaded one in the group."

 **A/N: Not much to say this chapter, I finally was able to bring back an old character that I've been wanting to for a while now. No spoilers but I definitely have plans for Finch in the future.**

 **Big thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing to beta for me.**

 **Question of the week: So it looks like Andromeda's not going to have the Paragon/Renegade system, what do you guys think of that? Personally I like it because most of my Shepard's I felt forced to stick to one side because of the game mechanics but know I can make each choice individually which I am excited about.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Dekuton: I kind of answered this in the PM but thanks again man, I appreciate the heads-up.**

 **KtB: Thanks! I'm kind of the same way. I'll definitely end up buying it because it's Mass Effect but I guess cautiously optimistic is the best way to describe how I feel about it. The elimination of the morality system does kind of intrigue me though.**


	21. You're as Cold as Ice

"Oh you have got to be kidding me."

Now that I was finally back on the Normandy, I opened up the gift that I had received from Miranda and took it in with all its glory. The chest piece in front of me was painted in an interwoven pattern of grey, black, and white splotches with my trademark blood-red wolf on the left shoulder to pull the whole look together. Attached on the front was a paper note that judging from the perfectly drawn letters, Miranda must have penned and attached to the piece of protective equipment.

" _I heard that you got kicked in the chest and this was laying around so I figured you could put it to use. The loops on both sides are specially tailored to holster M-100 grenade launcher rounds so use them wisely."_

Pulling the armor piece up, I noticed that there were a total of seven little holsters on the thing, three in front and four in the back that appeared to function for the exact purpose Miranda said. You know, it might just be time to start bringing along that piece of heavy ordnance and put it to good use. If I run into any more giant worms or even a geth Wraith. It'll be quite handy to have some explosives to change the tide. For now though, I'm gonna go talk to that fucking requisitions guy that hangs out in the hangar. See what kinds of deals that slimy looking bastard's got for me.

I took the lift up from the crew quarters and stomped across to where the soldier was organizing some cargo on the wall. "Hey you got a minute?"

"Give me one second here." A hefty-sounding box was lowered to the floor and wiping some sweat from his brow, he gave me a big grin. "Oh you're Wolfert, right? I've seen you around the ship but I've never introduced myself. Requisitions Officer Carter at your service, what can I do for you?"

"Well Carter, what have you got in the way of specialized explosive rounds? I'm talking M-100 here specifically."

His eyes lit up and he pointed a finger at me. "You know it's funny you should mention that because I just got in a pretty hefty shipment of them for a great deal while we were onboard the Citadel."

"You don't say…"

Well that's not extremely coincidentally lucky or anything, at least pretend to be subtle Miranda. Although…now that I think about it, the requisitions officer would be an excellent person to have onboard the ship as a mole. With how much contact he makes with all kinds of random people, one little communications message could easily slip through the cracks if he played his cards right. Nothing I can do right this moment though, just something to keep an eye out for going forward.

"Yeah I've got all kinds of good stuff here, just hold on a second." He turned his back towards me and I impatiently tapped my foot as he rooted through his little cargo situation until he found a particular box. "Here we go, just what the doctor called for."

"Give me the quick rundown, what am I looking at here?"

My joy was starting to build as I saw the variety of cylindrical tubes in there, each one potentially holding its own unique brand of carnage.

"Alright for starters we've got your basic run of the mill boring-ass fragmentation rounds, but for those who want to send a special message straight to some unlucky son of a bitch, these are what you're going to want." As he spoke, he started to stack the different types of ammunition on a counter next to him. "These are incendiary ones. If you've ever seen an inferno grenade you'll have a good idea what these babies can do. Cryo-rounds turn whatever poor bastard is in range into a frozen popsicle. Here's some fusion explosives which are packed full-up with polonium and will release toxins great for making annoying pricks move from their cover. And then the less fun stuff. Non-lethal goods like EMP rounds which shut down any kind of electronics and then the classic smoke grenade. And I think that's about it. At least as far as what I've got here I should say."

I tried not to appear enthusiastic, knowing full well how an arms store was one of the few places where you could still haggle and get some good deals when buying in bulk. "Alright then Mr. Requisitions Officer, how much we talking here per grenade?"

"Give me a moment." He made a big show of running calculations on his omni-tool, pondering over it for a second before answering my question. "For the frags, I can offer you individuals at one-hundred and fifty credits each, then for the specialized I'd have to bump it up to two-fifty I'm afraid."

I shook my head, acting as if the prices were far too much for me. The game of bargaining was in full swing now. "Damn. Well that's quite the hefty fee."

"I'm trying to keep you guys outfitted properly but at the end of the day I do have to run a profit."

"Hey you're talking to somebody who's been involved in the procurement and selling of weapons since he was a teenager. I know how this goes." I tapped my chin and thought for a moment about how much I would need. "What if we figured out some kind of bulk discount here? I don't know too many other people running around this ship with grenade launchers so if I take a good amount of that product off your hands, maybe a little bit of a mark down would be in order?"

Carter gave an noncommittal shrug. "I might be able to work out something like that. How big of a purchase are we talking here?"

"I'm thinking something along the lines of fifty of the frags then maybe…ten or so each of the special ones? Can't be too careful in my line of work you know?"

"I've watched the helmet feeds that get patched in sometimes, I can understand that." He got out his wrist-mounted device once again and went to work. "Now ordinarily that'd run you twenty-two five but I'll take…let's go with a thousand out. That would leave you at twenty-one thousand and five hundred credits."

"Hmmm. I say we mark it down to a nice and even twenty grand, then to sweeten the deal for you I'll put you in contact with some of the people I go to for licenses. Not sure if you're aware of this but I'm co-owner of a weapons shop on the Citadel."

One of his eyebrows raised just the tiniest bit. "That's an intriguing offer Mr. Wolfert." His toe tapped a few times as he typed on his omni-tool once again and after just a few seconds more, the officer threw his hand out. "It's a deal. Contingent on you actually putting me into contact with the right people of course, but for now I'll take you at your word. One Marine to another."

"Works for me."

Quickly, he counted down the appropriate amount of each type of grenade round and placed them into a couple boxes as I wired the money from my bank account to his. The first crate held all my regular high explosives and the last held the really fun stuff. He started to put them on a little handcart to wheel them over to my locker but I stopped him, mid-lift.

"It's all good man, save your back some work." I focused for a second and the two boxes floated upwards, surrounded by an indigo aura. "Pleasure doing business with you."

I walked to the other side of the room, laughing under my breath until I was stopped mid-stride by Tali who was most likely on her way to the engine room. "What's with the boxes Nathan? And the rather creepy laughter too."

Gingerly, I set both of them down next to my weapons locker before I turned to her. "Just come here and check it out."

It only took a second for me to open it and reveal the contents of them both to her, at which she groaned nervously. "Keelah, who thought it was a good idea to give you more explosives? You cause stuff to blow up enough without them, now you'll be almost as bad as Chelsea."

"Woah Tali, let's not get too crazy here. We're not talking about just anybody, this is Chelsea Shepard. Nobody compares to her on that particular scale…although I would like to give her a run for her money now that I'm really thinking about it. Between my biotics and this puppy, I think I'll have a sporting chance at the very least."

"And now you're just making me nervous to be around you." She hurriedly changed the subject. "Were you able to take care of your business on the Citadel?"

"Yeah, I actually met up with Doctor Michel there and helped her out with a little issue. She actually said to tell you hi and also that she hopes that you're adjusting well to the Normandy, as well as enjoying your time here."

"Well that was nice of her." She nodded slightly. "And yes it has been surprisingly enjoyable here on the Normandy. Even with all the fighting every few days."

I just shrugged in acceptance of her statement. For me it was pretty normal to be constantly on the edge of battle since that's how I'd lived my life since joining the Alliance, but for most it was quite the adjustment. To be honest, she actually had done a hell of a job considering the circumstances, but the fact that she was an admiral's daughter made so much more sense now. Her skill with tech and shotguns were definitely above the normal trooper so it kind of made me wonder just who it was that had trained her.

"That's good to hear. I hope Lia treated you pretty well while you stayed at the Armory?"

At that, she perked up considerably which was saying something considering she was always pretty peppy. "Oh of course, she couldn't have been nicer. It was so great to be able to talk with somebody about home and to be able to laugh about things and just have them understand. The hardest thing was getting her to just treat me like anybody else after she found out who my father happens to be."

"That does sound like her." I laughed under my breath. "Still, I'm glad to hear it though. I figured you deserve a little break after all the work you've been doing with both the ground team and in the engineering room. I'm just glad I was able to convince you to come back and stay at the Armory." 

"I'm glad too Nathan."

"You know…you, Lia and Daxy are about the only people who still call me by my first name. Is it weird that it sounds odd for me to not be used to hearing my own name?"

"A little bit yes." Her mask bobbed up and down. "Although I think there's probably a hundred other things about you that are weirder than that so it's not saying too much really."

I crossed my arms and pretended to be hurt by the young woman's statement. "Alright, name one."

"Speaking of name's, what do you call your pistol again? I heard you talking to it while you were doing your maintenance work a few days ago." My mouth snapped shut and I remained silent, opting not to say anything else that would only damage my stock. "That's what I thought." She looked down at her omni-tool and cursed in Khellish. "I'm late for my shift sorry I have to go."

"Don't worry about it, just tell Adams that I held you up and I'll take full responsibility for setbacks or holdups that were caused because of it."

The quarian's faceplate cocked mischievously. "Oh don't worry, I was already planning on doing that."

I shook my head and sighed as I returned to my task. In just the short few weeks that all of us had been gathered together on the ship, she had definitely blossomed quite a bit in terms of letting her personality show. Before, there were glimpses of it when she'd get angry or carried away with herself, but now it was pretty much out there for the world to see which was good for everybody to be honest. It's hard to be a cynical, bitter asshole when there's someone so positive and full of life running around. I just hope that this whole business doesn't get to her and cause that side of her to wilt.

 **LINE BREAK**

"Alright team, we'll be approaching Noveria within the hour now so be ready. The Council has already told them of our planned arrival but as this planet is privately chartered by the Noveria Development Corporation and not technically under their jurisdiction, expect some form of resistance, whether armed or verbal. I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, don't rise to any kind of verbal provoking." The commander paused and gave me a significant look. "But if you do believe that you're in danger, don't allow yourself to hesitate and let them get the first blow in."

"I know it's an awkward situation but use your better judgement and if you're with me or Caleb, just follow our lead." Chelsea started pointing out individuals around the room. "Wolf, Tali, Wrex and Liara will be joining the two of us down there."

Giving a quick survey of the room, it was rather interesting to see everyone's different reactions. I probably should have expected it but Wrex just smirked and leaned forward, probably anticipating the battle that was almost assuredly about to come in the next few hours. Tali just nodded, as if she was accepting some sort of challenge and was silently promising in turn that she would do her best. Lastly was Liara who was bowing her head down, shielding her facial expression from the rest of us. If I had the possibility of a fight with my own mother on the horizon, I probably would have done the same. Poor girl probably has a whole fuck-ton of emotions swirling inside her right now.

The commander stepped up from his chair, signaling that the meeting was about to end. "That doesn't mean the rest of you are free to just kick back and not do anything though, I expect all of you to make yourself comfortable in the hangar while we're down there. Grab food, something to watch, etcetera, because we might need you to suit up and come provide backup at a moment's notice and I'm not sure how long this is going to take. The matriarch almost without a doubt has her own personal unit of elite commandoes with her and there's also the possibility that they've got more forces on site so be on guard one-hundred percent of the time, this is going to be the toughest fight we've had yet."

A loud round of variations on the phrase, "understood," circled the room and the group of us filed downstairs and into the elevator where the process of the ground team suiting up would begin once again. This time though, I would have some new toys to play with.

As I stripped down and started to slip into the skintight bug-looking undersuit that I had received from Cerberus, I started to smile uncontrollably as I thought about the new grenade launcher I would be wielding. Still though, I didn't let that completely overwhelm my processes as I thought about where I would fit it on the already somewhat crowded magnetic strips that were on the back of my armor.

I started to mumble under my breath as I moved on and started to get the lower half of my armor attached. "M11's on the hip, that's fine. Piranha can stay on the lower back. That just leaves the Lancer or Mattock…one's got to go."

My foot began to tap and I guess I must have been mumbling to myself because when I came back to my senses, I saw Liara standing in front of me looking fairly concerned. "Are you alright Nathan?"

"Oh yeah I'm all good, just have a new weapon I get to bring out there today and I'm not sure where to put it. I already carry heavier equipment than your typical biotic besides maybe Wrex with his heavy armor and all so I don't want to weigh myself down any more than I have to."

"I see." She looked relieved to see that I wasn't actually losing my mind right in front of her. "I am afraid that I cannot be of much help to you then, the only things I carry into the field are my pistol and submachine gun."

"Don't worry about it, with something like my guns, I probably wouldn't take other people's advice anyway. I'm kind of stubborn when it comes to that subject in particular." I flashed a little grin as I tried to gingerly bring up a different, more sensitive subject. "But about you though, how are you holding up?"

The asari scientist set her jaw firmly, showing that she had a streak of tenacity running through that usually calm, demure personality. "I am not going to back down just because of who the enemy is. This is something I need to do on my own and understand personally."

"Hey I'm not trying to dissuade you from anything here." I tightened the straps on my new Ajax armor and realized I'd now have just one more problem to add to the pile. Namely, which types of M-100 rounds would occupy the seven slots I had to fill. Shit. As if I needed another decision to add to my problems right now. "All I'm trying to say is you don't have to prove yourself to anybody on the ship. No one here should question your loyalty and if they are, that's their fucking problem to deal with because you've done just as much as any other member of the ground team since we picked you up on Therum."

"Well thank you." She colored slightly at my defense of her character before giving a light little laugh. "Despite the…crass nature of your words, you do seem to have a talent for getting to the heart of the matter."

"Eh, I'm much better at fixing other people's. It's my own that give me all the trouble." Now that I was finally fully encased in my armor, with the exception of my mask, I put a comradely hand on her shoulder. "Good luck down there T'Soni, just remember that we've all got your back no matter what happens."

"Thank you Wolf."

I nodded and returned to my deliberations. In the short conversation we had, my mind had been made up that the Mattock was the weakest link in the chain. Close-quarters is my specialty and if we do happen to get into some kind of long-range battle, I'll cope with a mixture of short bursts from the Lancer with the occasional explosive ordinance from my grenade launcher. I'd rather be exceptional in one area than try to spread myself thin. Long-range's never been my forte and I don't think that's going to change now.

However, just as I had finished getting over the first hurdle, I noticed that Liara hadn't really moved. "Something else on your mind too I'm guessing?"

"Sorry, I did not mean to bother you further. It is only that I noticed you had returned to your thoughts so I was going to wait until you were done before posing my question."

She's still way too fucking polite to be on this ship. "No worries, I was kind of just spacing out anyway so go ahead and ask whatever's on your mind."

"It is actually not so much a question as an offer." She must have realized how it sounded and hurriedly tacked on another sentence. "That is to say, I was simply wondering if you would like to meditate with me before the battle. It has always helped me immensely in calming my nerves and serves the added function of clarity of mind for later use of biotics."

"Are you saying I'm not a calm person, T'Soni?"

I crossed my arms and tried not to laugh as she scrambled to answer. "No, no, that is not what I meant at all, I merely thought that it might help." Her hand went to her forehead and she started to mumble. "Goddess, I should have just kept my mouth closed. I did not mean to offend, I must blame it on my continuing lack of familiarity-" Her lips pursed and an even deeper shade of blue colored her cheeks. "You are teasing me again."

"I might be, yeah."

An unfamiliar feeling of guilt for making the poor girl twist herself in knots so badly settled in the pit of my stomach and I sighed. Most biotics meditate on a frequent basis but I was one of the exceptions, mostly due to the whole, "being alone with your thoughts," concept being high on my list of things to avoid whenever remotely possible. After the torture I've put Liara through dealing with my rather troll-like nature, taking a journey into my own mind just this one time couldn't be too bad. Who knows, it might actually help. If I can deal with my own shit and be less of a raging asshole to people too that'd be a nice little bonus for everybody around me.

Well, gotta start somewhere I guess. "Alright Liara, last time they tried to get me to meditate to strengthen my biotics was boot camp, but for your sake I'll give it a go. Just this once though."

"Excellent." She motioned to a corner of the hangar that was largely untouched as most of the crew was centered around the weapons lockers, preparing themselves for the fight to come. "Perhaps we could head over there then? I would hate for somebody to stumble into us and break your concentration."

I mumbled under my breath, not wanting to contradict the asari who was only trying to help. "Right. Because that would just be terrible."

Dragging my feet like a person awaiting a death sentence, I followed a few paces behind the maiden. When the two of us had reached our destination, she quickly kneeled down and motioned for me to do the same. "You know, this would be so much easier without armor on."

The sound of ceramic plating crashing into the hard metal floor of the hangar filled our little area and Liara just smiled at my grumbling. Of course, even with a set of light armor, she still looked perfectly at ease which was about the norm for her seemingly, except when she had to deal with sarcastic troublemakers like myself.

Finally though, I had settled in and found a fairly comfortable position resting on my heels, mimicking her pose as I placed both gloved hands in my lap. "So uh, what do we do now?"

"Now we meditate." She raised one of her hands and held it in mid-air. "If you would like, I can initiate a shallow meld to help guide you through the process. It also helps to deeper the meditative state somewhat due to our shared state of being."

"Think I'll pass, thanks though. Let me just stay inside my own head for this one." Yeah this is going to be enough of a nightmare without the poor girl having to deal with all the fucked up stuff that's taken up residence in my headspace. "So I just close my eyes and…think about stuff real hard?"

Again, an amused smile crossed the serene woman's face. I swear, if I didn't know better I'd think this is her getting me back for putting her through all the shit I do. "Do not think about directing your thoughts, just let whatever comes naturally into your mind stay there as long as it wills. By getting more in touch with your inner-self and true feelings, your clarity of focus will increase tenfold."

Finally deciding to take the plunge, I closed my eyelids and was immersed into the inky blackness that was my own consciousness. Great. Still though, I couldn't help but give one final remark before continuing, even if I could no longer see her reaction to it. "What if your, 'clarity of focus,' only increases by being pissed off at everything around you though?"

"Then you will be the one anomaly among all biotics. Strength can come from rage it is true, but that unbridled emotion also brings instability and a lack of finely honed control. On a more personal note, it is also most likely the main reason you can't harness a singularity, no matter how, 'pissed off,' you become despite the fact your biotic strength is well above the human average."

That shut me up pretty quick. The combination of Liara throwing back my own words, doing what I had done just moments earlier, as well as throwing down that little trump card did a pretty good job of getting me to think about my current task.

At first my thoughts were filled with nothing but the other thing that had been troubling me since heading down here, namely choosing how to use the seven slots I had for grenade launcher rounds wisely. Just as I had finally settled on taking two EMP rounds, two incendiary and filling out the rest with normal frags, my mind started to drift. I thought about Cerberus, the clusterfuck that I had gotten myself into and how I was going to get out of it. Strangely though, even though I realized that there was an almost zero percent chance of it ending well it didn't bother me. Having peace about things wasn't something I was used to but this whole meditating thing was actually helping a bit. Granted, the minute I came out of my trance I'd probably go right back to stressing out and clawing for every last advantage I could possibly put in my back pocket but for right now that didn't matter.

My mind wandered back to my Alliance days, just reminiscing about my time with Sierra Team before the nightmare that was Torfan. I thought about the audible pride in my old man's voice when I told him that I had been selected to go attempt N training and the bits of advice he would offer whenever I had the decency to shut up for a second so he could get a word in.

"Wolf." I was in the middle of meeting Aria's drell agent during my mission to make N7 when a soft voice interrupted me. "Nathan it is time to go."

The light blinded my eyes for a split-second and rubbing at them, I cleared away the spots that were clouding my vision. Liara T'Soni stood in front of me with a small smile and extended hand. "Sorry what was that?"

"I said that we are making our final approach to Noveria."

Taking her offered help, I shuffled to my feet from my kneeling position and stretched out my aching joints. "Shit, I'm sore."

"That is probably because you have been kneeling there for the last thirty minutes approximately." When I just stared at her for a few seconds she nodded. "Check your chrono if you do not believe me, Mitch awoke me from my state about ten minutes ago and I have been keeping watch on you ever since."

Huh. That only felt like five minutes, I swear. "I have a hard time believing that Woley didn't take the chance to mess with me while I was out like that."

"Oh I have no doubt he would have." She must have taken the time to grab my Recon Hood because she pulled it from a pouch on her armor and handed it to me. As I pulled the fabric over my head, the familiar sight of the software systems kicking to life and syncing with my equipment began. "You were so peaceful looking however that I thought it would be a shame to interrupt your meditation until the necessary time. Once I had decided that, I was able to coax him into seeing my way on this particular matter."

Luckily the mask hid my facial expression because I was grinning like a madman. "I'll bet that wasn't too difficult to do."

Unsurprisingly though, my playful little teasing either went over her head or she chose to ignore it. "You are correct, the lieutenant was rather easy to persuade to leave you alone. I think he was actually extremely pleased to see you in such a state even though he tried to hide it. Although he also added something to the effect of it being extremely off-putting to see you not either looking as if you were going to ram your head through a wall or wearing that, 'stupid ass smirk,' as he put it."

"Sounds right."

"Wolfert! T'Soni!" A booming voice echoed across the hangar. "Get your asses up here! We're about to go through decontamination and the commander said that if you don't make it in time she's going to dump the both of you on this frozen planet through the airlock."

Sprinting over to my weapons locker, I grabbed the grenades I had decided on and tucked them into the pouches on my belt. I made it into the elevator on time only thanks to a meaty arm about as thick as my head holding it open for a split-second longer.

"Thanks big man. 'Preciate it."

I'm not sure why exactly but my calling the krogan that had seemingly struck a pleasing chord somewhere in that centuries old mind so I usually stuck with it whenever I remembered. Hell, maybe the translator taking it from human to krogan figured it was some badge of honor, which considering that it was the krogan dialect we're talking about here wouldn't surprise me. Almost everything came down to strength with them so my little nickname for the hulking biotic being probably did translate pretty favorably now that I think about it.

"Of course." He smashed his fists together in the classic sign that I had quickly learned meant a krogan was anticipating something. And that something was almost always a good fight. "I wouldn't want you to miss out on a battle like this."

"Yeah, because fighting asari commandoes is always a blast." The first one that I had run into in years had been back on Therum and she managed to hold her own for a short while against Shepard, at least until I jammed a taser into her neck. Hell I didn't even think about it but I guess that's the reason we're here now is thanks to the information gathered from that bitch. Well I just hope my own actions don't come back to bite me in the ass.

My sarcasm about the feat in front of us was swept away entirely by his enthusiasm for the upcoming brawl. "Exactly. It's been nothing but robots and pathetic slavers; the type of scum who think that just because you have armor and a gun it makes you strong. This time though, we get an actual challenge. I can't wait to get down there."

The three of us filed without another word into the chamber that extended from the Normandy and into the dock. As the decontamination process began, the two Shepards and Tali gave a nod to acknowledge that we had finally made it. Chelsea however, lingered on my face just a little longer as her eyebrow raised. "The fuck happened to you?"

"Not a thing. And I mean that literally. I was just down there doing nothing but thinking…it was really fucking weird." Turning towards the asari, I tried to convey the thankfulness I felt. "It was a good weird though I guess so thanks for that."

"Well I'm sorry I missed it. The idea of you sitting there meditating is so strange that it's just something I would have to witness to believe it actually happened."

"I'm still not sure that it happened either."

Shrugging, I watched the doors open and filed out just behind the two Shepards who had taken the lead as they walked out onto the grim, grey walkway that served as our entrance to the Noveria facilities. The six of us turned the corner, only to be stopped by a foursome of guards all wielding various firearms except for one.

Their apparent leader, the unarmed woman with her black hair tied back away from her face, was the first to speak. "Commanders, my name is Captain Maeko Matsuo of Elanus Risk Control Services, welcome to Port Hanshan." She pointed to the six of us with a hand free of any weapon. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask that you leave all firearms at our security post however as they are not allowed in the Plaza."

Chelsea just laughed loudly at that and turned to Wrex and I who were both grinning madly at the bold proclamation by the weaponless officer. The woman had balls for even asking something like that considering she was talking to a group that included the first two human Spectres, a massive krogan, a shotgun-wielding quarian, the wildcard that asari's always are in a potential fight thanks to their innate biotics and the Butcher of Torfan. Even if you had no clue who I was, just looking at the one fake eye and the scar that runs through it along with the horizontal one on my chin should tip you off as to my line of work.

"You hear that boys? She says we're not allowed to have guns in this place."

"She does realize that four of us are biotics and the other two are a tech genius and an N7 right? No guns might actually make the fight a challenge."

"Wolf, Lieutenant Commander Shepard, stand down." The Lion of Elysium held out a hand in an attempt to cool things off before it got to the part where we shoot at each other. It wasn't an interrogation but the twins unintentionally were pretty natural at playing good cop, bad cop.

In the short moment of silence, the blonde next to their boss decided she needed to chip in. "You heard the man, stand down before we make you."

My eye twitched involuntarily and it took everything in me not to fire back at the cocky bitch. If you're dumb enough to antagonize our group with only four people, you've gotta either be one stupid motherfucker or happen to be some of the biggest badasses in the galaxy. And considering they were a group of security officers, that really only left one of those as an option.

Thankfully for them, the cooler heads in each party began to take charge of the situation as Matsuo spoke again. "I'll handle this Sergeant Stirling."

"We've already had the Council check in with the authorities here to relay the current situation so you should understand why it is of the utmost importance that we carry our weapons with us at all times." Caleb tried to negotiate with the woman. "You have my word that we are not here to interfere with the regular order of operations in any way. We have questions for Matriarch Benezia that need to be answered and that's all."

The blonde one with the shotgun just scoffed loudly. You know, violence against woman is a fucked-up thing but in this case I can't help but really want to deck her. If I can hold my mouth shut for once then you can at least do the same lady.

We were still at an impasse when a third party entered the conversation. "Captain Matsuo, let them pass. I have just talked to the administrator and he personally gave the all-clear."

"Roger that." She craned her neck backwards as she spoke before returning her attention towards us and giving a slight nod towards stairs behind her. "Apologies for the misunderstanding, I was just following the orders given to me. Parasini-san will see you all inside."

"No need to apologize captain, I understand you were just doing your job." The captain flashed a winning smile and the rest of us fell in line behind him, finally getting past the fucking front door to the place.

However, Sergeant What's-Her-Face couldn't let us get away without getting one final bit in, just as I was stepping past. "Watch yourself."

Making full eye contact with the woman, I took a big step forward and let my biotics coil around my arms as a teensy little show of force. Even if I won't say anything, I'm not just going to let her walk all over us. To my great delight, as I stepped forward she jumped back and surrounded herself with a barrier. Great, at least I know she's a biotic now if I do get the chance to kick her stupid ass.

Extremely satisfied with myself, I gave a slow wink to the woman as I turned to the left and trailed the rest of my team, bringing up the rear.

"I see you still couldn't completely let it go. Still, I'm surprised you managed to almost keep completely quiet in that whole exchange. Maybe that meditation thing actually did help you."

The quarian woman in front of me sounded like she was pretty amused at the small indulgence I let myself have. "Please Tali, I would never mouth off. I'm a complete professional."

"Right. And I'm a four-armed salarian."

As we passed through double-glass doors and up a flight of stairs, setting off all kinds of alarms as we did so, the same voice that had ended the stalemate spoke to us. Although now I could see the actual face it belonged to. "Welcome to Noveria commanders, sorry about the chilly reception."

 **A/N: Hey what's up everybody! After a few little chapters of character interactions we're finally getting back into the meat of things now. I'm going to try and put my own little spin on the Peak Fifteen incidents but we'll see how that goes.**

 **Question of the week: What do you guys think of the OC usage this story? Would you like to see more of a focus on them in the interim between ME1-2 or more canon characters coming into play?**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Blaze1992: Well I'll just have to let you know how it goes then ;)**

 **Sniperdude79: Yeah I'm in the same boat there. Just about everywhere else I'll take ME but I prefer the original DA:Origins style and probably even 2 since you still could be malleable to the situation and not feel locked into a paragon/renegade response depending on your Shep.**

 **GJD: We'll see. They've just gotten past the whole, "hating each other phase," so where it goes next is anybody's guess.**

 **Dekuton: I won't spoil it but the Reds in general are definitely going to have a bit of an impact later on. As for which side of the whole good/bad thing they fall on, that remains to be seen although Finch does appear to be reforming at least a little. And you're not the only one with that AshxWolf idea so who knows…**

 **Worf359: Yeah I'm definitely really excited to see what they're going to end up doing. I'm still just cautiously optimistic about it but my fingers are definitely crossed in hopes that it ends up being good.**


	22. It's Time to Play the Game

"I take it you're Parasini?"

The alarms had finally turned off after a few seconds and once the noise died down, the commander resumed his usual lead role, by addressing the darker-skinned woman in the flowing pink-purple dress.

Her lips parted in a smile and she nodded. "That's correct, my name is Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. Once again, I do apologize. Our guards were somehow not given the proper instructions regarding your arrival and they do take their job very seriously so please don't hold that against them."

"Well it almost got them killed." My female CO fired back as she pointed in their general direction. "That blonde is damn lucky you stepped in when you did, although I think Wolf just might have made her shit her pants still so she didn't get off scot free."

I grinned at the recollection, even though the rest of the room couldn't see it thanks to my mask. At seeing that we weren't in any immediate danger though, I pulled off the Recon Hood and tucked it into my belt, enjoying not having to breathe through the thing for the time being. "Yeah, not gonna lie I definitely wanted to do worse but for once I'd like to step onto a new planet and not immediately kill someone. Try to switch things up for once, you know?"

The lady appeared unsure whether to grimace or smirk at my statement. I forgot that most normal people don't face the same things I do on a day to day basis. "Well I do appreciate you leaving our security team intact, I sincerely hope there won't be any further such conflict." She gave a slight nod of the head, still wearing the confused expression. "Getting back on topic, part of my job description is making sure that new arrivals, even Spectres and their team are properly welcomed. Is there any question you might have that I can answer?"

"We have to speak with an asari who passed by here rather recently from what we've been told." The commander leaned forwards and put his hands on the desk. "What information do you have on Matriarch Benezia's whereabouts?"

The lady just smirked. "I see. Well The Board is not going to be happy about outside interference with a client but last I heard she was stationed at the Peak Fifteen research complex and since she has not returned through here, it's safe to assume she's still there."

"We're not trying to cause any issues ma'am." The Lion of Elysium raised his hands. "I'm here to complete my objective and that's that. The Council has no interest in whatever else may be going on here."

"I do appreciate the sentiment but I'm afraid that only the administrator can give clearance to leave the port all the same so you'll have to speak with him."

Chelsea, clearly growing tired of all this sighed loudly. "Well where's he at then?"

"His office is on this facility's main level, just take a left at the top of the elevator."

"Thanks." I gave an exaggerated grin. Chelsea definitely got under my skin sometimes but I definitely agreed with her on wanting to get this shit rolling already. "Can we go now?"

Instead of getting mad though like I was halfway expecting, she just smiled back. "Of course, if any of you need anything further I'll be at my desk just outside the administrator's office."

With everything out of the way for now, she made her escape and exited out the back of the office as we all circled for a brief second. Liara was surprisingly the first one to break the silence, speaking in a low voice. "So she **is** here."

"Don't worry Liara, we're with you whatever happens."

Chelsea followed up her twin's statement. "No matter who your mom is, you're a member of the crew just like everybody else. We've got your back."

Tali gave a brief little positive confirmation and Wrex predictably just grunted something that might have been a yes before we continued on the way. For my part, I gave her a little tap on the shoulder and tried hard to give a reassuring grin. I'm not sure if it worked or not but she at least did fall in step right at the tail end of our group.

From there we trekked the short distance to the elevator through lifeless stone hallways that were lit only by the myriad of lights pinned to them. The circular glass doors closed behind us and as we ascended I leaned against the wall.

"I have a strange feeling that we're not quite welcome here Shepard." Both of them turned to me and I shrugged. "Honestly it wasn't even directed specifically at one of you, just me making a stupid comment."

"If anybody's dumb enough to actually try to stop us, it'll take their entire security force just to make it a decent fight." Wrex rumbled out as he fingered the shotgun that was casually resting across his palms. "Although, those idiots they called guards might actually be stupid enough to try it. Especially the one with the blonde fur."

Not bothering to correct the krogan's small misunderstanding, I just continued to recline against the glass barrier. "Still, if we're ambushed and not saying we will be, anyone can be a threat." My eyes were drawn to the commander who was still standing bolt upright at the door's opening. "I don't think they'd try anything in the open, but if we end up in a conveniently quiet out of the way place, don't let your guard down because I'm sure they'd take a shot."

"I'd like to see 'em try." Chelsea's grin grew especially vicious. "Nobody tries to take my fucking guns."

Right. Forgot that I wasn't the only one who was a little touchy about their firearms. Although Chelsea makes me look positively normal on the scale when it comes to love of all things that shoot things or explode.

As the doors opened, the commanders once again took front position, followed shortly thereafter by Tali and Liara with me and the big guy bringing up the rear. Apparently we were going straight to the administrator's office and not doing any kind of looking around because we took an immediate left, making our way through a dead looking marketplace that had all the warmth and liveliness of a corpse. God this place is depressing as fuck, I guess if you live in a place that makes Detroit look like a tropical paradise it sucks something out of a person.

Two turian guards who had obviously been alerted to our coming only gave the slightest of glances our way as we walked between them and into the administrator's office. "So…where is the guy?"

"Maybe he's out at the moment?" Tali offered as we walked through a room that was about the size of my store on the Citadel. However, when we got to the end and another clear glass door was in front of us, she added on. "I guess this is his office then. Keelah, you could house a family in just the outer portion here."

"It does seem to be quite a waste of potential space." Liara mused.

"I've dealt with his kind." Wrex scoffed. "Anybody with a space this big just to stick a desk in it is a self-important pyjak."

In front of us now was Parasini once again, sitting behind an orange display that she closed and stood up from as we entered. Wait…how the fuck did she get here before us? "Hello once again. I'm assuming the six of you would like to speak with Anoleis?"

"That's correct. As I said before it's an urgent Council matter that we get to Peak Fifteen as soon as possible."

She nodded at the man and dipped her head as she activated an intercom. "Mr. Anoleis?"

"I'm here. Yes. What? What do you want!"

All of that was said in less than a second and in a tone of voice that instantly made me hate the person on the other end. Unfortunately, it seems that Wrex was completely right about the guy. Shockingly though, she once again kept her cool and in a calm tone of voice answered the man.

"It's the commanders sir, they're outside your office and would like to speak with you." Holy fucking shit. We're still not in this fucker's office yet? Tali was wrong, you could house a damn platoon in this place. "Should I let them in?"

"Yes. Alright. Fine. Have them come in."

Finally, we navigated our way through the gauntlet and were now standing in the office of the admin himself. Unsurprisingly, he continued to type away at the monitors in front of him, switching between the three displays seemingly at random in a pace that made me tired just looking at him. "I'm far too busy to stand up. However, I'll humor the Council and Executive Board."

"How generous of you." I couldn't help myself.

His eyes blinked as he took me in for the first time seemingly. "I serve the interests of the businesses who graciously ally themselves with Noveria. Businesses that come here do so to avoid the red tape of galactic law that slows down progress."

All of us bristled at the man. Well, everybody except for Caleb I should say. Instead of getting angry, annoyed or outright pissed like the rest of he thrust his chin forward and struck the most military pose I had ever seen.

"We're here for Benezia." Even though to the rest of the world he was calm, my eezo vision saw the real him and it wasn't pretty. At that moment, Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard's entire body was practically alight with biotic currents that stopped just short of showing apparently. At the new information I was presented with, I couldn't help but grin at the superb acting job the man was doing. "I understand that to you, a Spectre coming in here and snooping around is something to guard against but give my team and I transport to Peak Fifteen and in return you'll have my word that nothing else will be disturbed here."

It's funny, I had always thought of Caleb as the embodiment of a paragon of virtue but the more I learned, the more I realized just how wrong I was. I had kind of thought that he'd try to come in here and clean up the illegal activity with a Spectre-sized broom but damn I couldn't be more off.

"Unacceptable. As Saren's executor, anything that would impede her actions would go against our policies." He continued speaking at a mile a minute. "People come here to get away from the prying of the Council. If this were to become a commonplace happening, our entire model of operations would be overturned."

"What business interests does Saren have on Noveria?"

"He's a major investor in Binary Helix Corporation. As previously stated, the matriarch is listed as his executor which means she is entitled to act in his absence."

"Listen fucker." Chelsea finally had waited long enough seemingly. "I don't give two shits about your operations, executors or any of that garbage. Benezia and Saren are wanted criminals on a galactic scale responsible for the deaths of hundreds and if you don't arrange some sort of transport…well that just doesn't leave us with many options."

Seeing where she was going, I decided to back up the bad cop play and unsheathed the kukri strapped around my left shoulder. As I talked, I tested the edge of the pitch-black knife that I kept in practical mint condition despite the usage it had seen. "Do you really think your security guards can stop us from getting to your shuttles and commandeering one?" I nudged Wrex. "What do you think about it?"

"I think after we blast our way out of this office, the quarian and asari clean up whatever we don't immediately kill."

"Go ahead then." Well shit. Give the slimy bastard credit for calling our bluff. The prick's got a pair at least. "Even if you managed to shoot your way to a shuttle, the blizzard would down you before you could reach Peak Fifteen."

"Is there a road?" His insides were still blazing with biotic energy, even if he was keeping it under wraps remarkably. "We'll drive there if we have to."

"Yes. A road exists." Anoleis grudgingly conceded. "However, that would require a garage pass which I currently see no reason to relinquish."

"Can I shoot him?" Surprisingly, it was Tali this time who had been pushed over the edge.

"Not yet." Caleb just whirled on his heel and marched out, not checking to see whether we were following. "I have no more questions."

Trailing at the tail end of the six, I couldn't help muttering as we exited the office. "What a fucking prick. Asshole's lucky as hell that-"

My ramblings were stopped mid-sentence as the rather amused looking Parasini glanced up at the six of us. "You know, in the corporate world it takes more than a Marine's brute force to get things done sometimes. Occasionally a more…gentle and roundabout way is needed."

"I don't do gentle and roundabout well."

What was meant to be solely under my breath obviously came out as a bit more since she eyed me up and down after my statement. "I can see that."

Shepard crossed his arms and stared the woman down. "You knew exactly how that would go down didn't you?"

"I had an inkling." She shrugged in an attempt at modesty. "I figured that regardless of how it went, you would learn exactly how Noveria operates quicker this way than any warning I could give."

"Clearly you know something so go on and spill it." Chelsea just waved her hand, the, "lesson," about politics clearly either not heard or just flat-out ignored. Which is actually pretty likely considering it was Chelsea Shepard we were talking about here.

"I think what my commander means to say is that a lady as intelligent as you clearly has some sort of information that you'd be willing to divulge for some favor or other." After dealing with Aria back in my N7 initiation, I understood how the game of favors worked pretty clearly. On the scale of frightening, Parasini was a goldfish to the Omega Queen's shark.

She made a little sound, as if discovering something new and unexpected. "I didn't expect someone like you to be so reasonable."

"It takes more than reading the headline to get the whole story, and sadly Anoleis isn't the worse I've dealt with." Ending my response in tone that signified my attitude on the subject, not wanting to discuss the Butcher with someone who was an almost total unknown.

"Fine." She leaned in close and waved the commanders over. "Talk to Lorik Qui'in. He usually hangs out at the hotel bar around this time so if you're quick you should be able to catch him."

Wrex harrumphed loudly. "And what do you expect us to do with this Qui'in?" Obviously I wasn't the only one who had dealt with this type of situation before. Probably should have expected it considering Wrex's mercenary occupation.

"I'll let you figure that out by talking to him. But," a finger was teasingly pointed in the direction of my chest, "he can buy me a drink if it goes well."

Glancing to the rest of the team for help, I received nothing. "I don't really drink anymore."

"Not a problem." She actually winked. "I'm sure we can figure out something for a tough guy like you."

Growling under my breath, it was my turn now to perform a spin and walk out of a conversation. All this bureaucracy bullshit was annoying as hell. Why can't we just get to simple things like storming a research facility, dealing with asari commandoes, or a highly trained matriarch who most certainly would like to see all of us lying in a puddle of our own blood?

Thankfully I wasn't left alone, the accompaniment of stomping boots followed me shortly after a quick, "thank you for the info," from the commander. Why do I always seem to attract the manipulative ones? It certainly doesn't speak well for my ability, or lack thereof, to be an independent operator. Anyways, we filed out of that den of frustrations and started to follow the signs towards the hotel she made reference to.

"Commander, do you believe she can be trusted?"

Caleb glared forward. It seemed like his emotions were much more in check now since my Eezo Vision wasn't firing off like a freaking malfunctioning engine but from his terseness, he was still obviously annoyed. "I don't think we have too many other choices right now."

"She didn't seem to be lying as far as I could tell." Tali chimed in. The girl had definitely grown more bold over the weeks she had been onboard the ship, before she would have just stayed silent.

"I tend to agree." Opting to back her up, I threw my weight behind the thought she had volunteered. "Quarians in general are pretty spot-on when it comes to reading body language and I don't think Tali's an exception to that rule."

Another elevator ride greeted us at the end of the directions the arrows led us in and I trailed the group of heavily armed, armored and annoyed people of all species that made their way into it. What the hell's wrong with just constructing a place without making it stretch across fifty different fucking levels? I don't think I'd even needed to use an elevator back home until I was practically a teen and now I had to use one every hundred yards it seemed like.

My annoyance reached a crescendo as we finally reached the top. The commander looked this way and that, taking in the scene in front of him before giving any orders. Since it was still the middle of the day, the bar was only sparsely populated and the neon signs that probably lit up the night were shut down right now. A smattering of every species imaginable, for the most part looking depressed as hell, were sparsely strewn around the tables and benches that littered the large square that served as the hotel bar.

"Alright team, split up and find Qui'in. It's fair to guess that he's a turian but other than that, we don't seem to have too many other details to go off of."

The six of us nodded as we combed the bar and it wasn't long before an almost teal-grey asari in a bright yellow dress was trying to draw my attention with a nod that was less than subtle. Great, this can only end well.

"What do you want?"

She wasn't put off in the slightest by my brusque attitude. "That human at the bar, he's a sales representative for Binary Helix." My ears pricked at the mention of the business Saren was associated with but I tried to play it cool and keep quiet, wanting to see where exactly she was going with this. "His name is Rafael Vargas and I need you to talk to him."

"Before this goes any further, I need you to introduce yourself, tell me why you approached me in particular and elaborate just a bit on why you need me to talk to this Vargas guy."

The asari's eyes rolled in irritation but she kept talking. "I am Mallene Calis and as for why I chose you out of all your companions you simply are the best fit for what I need done. The Butcher of Torfan accompanying the first human Spectres as a mercenary tends to get noticed quickly in a place such as this."

"First off, I'm a contractor, not a damn merc." My arms crossed and I gave my best, "don't fuck with me," look. "Also you still haven't gotten to the actual part where you say what you need done."

"Such impatience."

"I'm sorry that I don't live to be a fucking thousand. Also, when you try to get someone to do something, as a general rule you either need to be extremely likable or have something that they stand to gain from…so far you haven't given me either."

"Fine. As I said before, a name like Wolfert will draw attention. Since you're working with the Shepard's he will hopefully assume that you're here to conduct a search into the inner workings of his company. While he's concerned with covering that up, he will be open for our real objective, planting a device that will crack into his personal wireless network. Provided you're capable of that much at least."

A grin cracked its way across my face. "Please. The Butcher's good for a lot more than just cracking slaver skulls. I can be covert when the situation calls for it." I raised a finger when she started to talk. "However. I'd still like to know the why, what you intend to do with this info and what I stand to gain."

"The Armali City Council on Thessia is known for its specialized biotic amps. With the rumors circulating around that Binary Helix is flying in large numbers of biotic specialists, we simply wish to make sure that our interests in the biotic field are still secured." I pointed a thumb in my direction and she sighed. "You will be payed handsomely for it. Five hundred credits to be exact."

"I've got a better idea." Her eyebrow ridge arched in curiosity. "You keep the money for yourself and instead you pay me by putting me in touch with some of your amp specialists willing to do business with me back on Thessia and pass along any info you manage to get on the Peak Fifteen facility here. I've got enough money. Information and contacts are much more valuable in my line of work."

"Hmmm."

She actually looked pleased at the new development which was just fine in my book, five hundred creds weren't going to make or break me. However, separating Jack's Armory from the rest of the pack in terms of biotic amps and being able to potentially pass along some info to my CO's about the place we were going to raid was much more valuable to me. Plus, getting a brand-new top of the line biotic amp for a sizable discount was a nice bonus incentive. If I was going to survive this mission and not end up rotting away in an Alliance prison for treason, I'd need to start proving my worth in more than just the battlefield. Making myself an invaluable asset and showing that, despite the fact Miranda practically had me handcuffed to Cerberus, I wasn't on their side was my only hope if the secret ever got out.

"I accept your counter-offer." A blue hand extended from her form-fitting yellow dress and I grasped it in my own, noting the metallic object she slipped into my grasp in the exchange that no doubt was the hacking device. "This is how you humans seal a business transaction, correct?"

"Yep." Something else was nagging me still though. "Sorry, one last thing. Why not just go to Caleb or Chelsea? Wouldn't they be much more distracting of a presence for your little scheme here?"

"Of course." Now that I had agreed to the deal, Calis' mood had instantly lightened. "It was just that, considering your more…colorful background I figured that you'd be much more likely to accept while still being a large enough figure to achieve the same result."

"So you just made the safest play."

"Correct. Also, if I proposed this to the male Shepard, my chance of arrest was high."

I chuckled. "And the female Shepard might just shoot you on the spot."

"That was a slight fear of mine, yes." She pointed towards the hotel bar. "You had better do it now before he leaves. My advice would be to just say that you represent some buyer or other and strike up a conversation over business. That should give you ample opportunity to do what needs to be done."

"Trust me, I'll get him talking." I rolled my neck in preparation, readying myself to play a game I hadn't been forced to for a long time.

"Excellent. One last bit of advice before you go." She moved her hand back and began to massage the back of her neck. "I had a brief conversation with him and anytime something was encroached that made him anxious, he did this gesture."

"Well shit, you're almost taking the challenge out of this now. I'll be back in no time at all." I gave a little nod as I left the asari, smirking the whole way to the bar. "I haven't run a con like this in a long-ass time so this should be fun."

"I like your attitude."

The asari waved me away with a smirk then putting on an expression that was halfway between a cocksure swagger and alertness I took a seat next to the man from Binary Helix. It only took a half-second for him to turn my way and when I nodded back at him, he swiveled in his seat to face me.

"You came here with those Spectres right?" Well word does travel fast apparently. He took a look down at the wolf on my chest and put two and two together. "Huh. So what can I do for the Butcher of Torfan?

"Assuming that you're Rafael Vargas, Binary Helix salesman extraordinaire, I'm hoping a whole lot." As I reached out to shake his hand, my left one slipped under the bar and stuck the device out of sight so she could get to work hacking him. "You see, I happen to be a man who dabbles in all sorts of things. In addition to being a bounty hunter and Alliance contractor, I also happen to be co-owner of a weapons shop that deals with clientele all throughout the Serpent Nebula. Since our location is in such a prime peace of real estate with a high amount of traffic from all over, we need to have the very best products to offer to our clients just to compete. Most of these I even like to field test myself, just so I can ensure that our customer satisfaction is as close to perfect as possible. Word of mouth is practically everything when it comes to setting you apart from the rest of the field."

Midway through his sentence, I noticed the tell that Callene had given. "I think I understand, if you'd like I can put you in contact with our branch managers and they can-"

"Look." I held up a hand to stop him. "If I wanted to get the company line, I can look up BH on the omni-net any old day of the week. When I saw the chance to talk to someone who actually had some sway, I just had to take the chance."

"What are you looking for?"

"Amps primarily." I cut him off preemptively as his hand twitched at the mere mention of the biotic tool. "I know, I know, officially Binary Helix deals primarily in genetic engineering but you and me both know better." Moving in closer, I was practically whispering in his ear now. "Noveria's not a good place to keep secrets and it's practically scrawled on these drab-ass walls that all kinds of commandoes are shuttling in and out of your little facility up there. Now if I didn't know better I'd say that BH is finally taking action and trying to lighten up the stranglehold the asari have had over all things having to do with biotics but what do I know, I'm just a dumb bounty hunter right?"

"It does seem that you've done your fair share of research before approaching me." In turn, he lowered his voice as well. "And you wouldn't be quite wrong on your assumptions either. The monopoly the asari have had on amps has gone on far too long, we have some…high ranking members of their race who have surreptitiously given their aid to our research teams. We might even have a prototype that has neared completion and is being tested as we speak."

I gave a big grin at that, a new amp could be just what the doctor ordered. It's definitely been a little while since I've upgraded and with all the new toys in my arsenal, a boost to my main weapon sounds pretty nice right about now. "Hypothetically, if such a device **were** to exist, how valuable would actual in-battle stress tests from a former tier four biotic with N7 training be?"

A loud ding came from my omni-tool. I guess that means I've had this guy talking long enough now. "Shit." Hopping off the seat, I swiped the device back in the midst of stretching out. "Looks like my handlers have got what they need and that means I have to put the contractor hat back on." With a flick of the wrist, I forwarded my contact info along with that of Daxyrus' to the man. "Just think about my offer, I'm sure we can work something out."

He pondered it for a moment. "I most certainly will. If we use the proper channels, I think an arrangement can be made that is beneficial to both parties."

"Agreed." I took the man's hand once again. "Now I'd better get out of here before they get mad, considering my reputation they've kind of got me on a tight leash."

I pantomimed being dragged back by my neck and he chuckled. "And for good reason apparently."

"Never said there wasn't." And with my mission complete, I sauntered back to the yellow-clothed asari who was still sitting down discreetly in the corner. "You get what you need?"

"More than enough. I don't know what you said to make sure that he sticks close by but it worked." Inwardly, I grinned. If only you knew lady. Whether it was from Binary Helix or this asari's employers, I was going to be getting a top of the line biotic amp for myself and the shelves of Jack's Armory. Maybe Finch was right, I would've been a fucking hell of a Red if I'd stayed with them. "And in return, future benefits will be coming in the direction of your business and I also just passed along a detailed diagram of Peak Fifteen with access codes, floor layouts and the like."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

"Likewise Mr. Wolfert, perhaps we will be in touch at a later time."

"I certainly hope so."

Grinning playfully, I put my back to the woman and started to scan the bar for any of the team, giving a huge sigh as I did so. Hot damn but that bitch was snake oil in fucking asari form. I'll have to be even more careful while I'm here. Fuck that, probably in general. If I'm going to survive this ordeal, I need to treat this like I'm back in Detroit and be as devious as possible while still doing everything the Shepard's need me to. Fuck but that balancing act's gonna get old real quick. I liked it so much better when I could just fight my problems and not have to think my way through anything.

"Shep." I approached the man who now was gathering the rest of the ground team around him in a little room off to the side where we could talk in relative peace. "What's the situation, you find this Qui'in guy?"

To my surprise, he completely ignored me and began to put his helmet on. As the rest of the team followed suit, I figured I should join the club and threw the mask back on over my face. "Talk and move. You'll be updated on the way."

"Roger that bossman."

The six of us filed out of the bar, Chelsea serving as the one giving the report. "To sum it up, Anoleis is extorting the companies here and anybody that doesn't play along gets slapped with a, 'corruption,' charge."

"So the guy's dirty. I could have guessed that from the second he opened his fucking mouth. How does that help us?"

Caleb Shepard swiveled his head my way. "It helps us because Mr. Qui'in managed to uncover solid data of what the administrator is doing and at this very moment, Anoleis is using the port's security guards as his personal goon squad to cover that fact up by ransacking his office. That guard chief Matuso is apparently unaware that her team is being paid on the side to perform acts like this so she's in the clear, the rest of them…not so much." He muttered almost under his breath. "I'm not a fan of killing guards but thanks to that little fact of payment, they're more mercs than anything else at this point."

"So we need to get there before the evidence is destroyed." Now the pieces are falling into place a bit better. "And also will probably have a little fight on our hands."

"Correct." The male Spectre continued his torrid pace towards our end goal.

Chelsea meanwhile was examining her rifle. "I just hope that bitch who tried to steal my weapons is there. Wouldn't mind putting a few rounds between her eyes."

"Agreed on that part." Following her example, I took my pistol from my hip and gave it another check even though I'd done that three times already before leaving the ship. "I'm assuming if we agreed to this thing then we're getting a garage pass or a direct route to one in exchange."

"We'll get his in exchange for doing this for him."

"Fuckin' sweet. Can't wait to get out of this place." A passerby in a business suit looked us up and down with a scowl plainly to be seen on his face. "Fuck are you looking at? Keep walking."

"Nathan…" Surprisingly, it was Tali who came beside and put an arm on my shoulder as she spoke in a gentle, calming tone. "It's fine, relax."

"Sorry Bubbles, guess I don't handle the nasty looks from people nearly as well as you do."

Her head cocked to the side and she seemed to be on the verge of laughter. "Bubbles?"

"Sorry. As cheerful as you are all the time I just thought it fit. You don't like it, I'll just call you Tali until some other little nickname pops into my head."

I shrugged, giving a look around as I did so. We had already made our way back through Hanshan's main lobby area and now the turian's office was getting close. The only thing that stood in our way was another turian in bright orange armor, standing at the entrance to the hallway where our path ended.

Surveying us quickly, it took all of a half-second for the unpainted turian to put two and two together. "Ah, the Spectres. What can I do for you?"

Chelsea was seemingly itching to go but her twin held out a hand subtly. "At this moment, all we need is to get into the Synthetic Insights office. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Of course not." The commander's implied threat was not very subtle. "The elevator is right through here, if there's anything else I can help you with today please let me know."

Chels scoffed. "Unless you've got a spare garage pass, I think we're good. I swear I haven't done this much pointless jogging since Boot Camp."

"That I'm afraid I can't help you with." He chuckled. "I'd like to keep my job if at all possible."

We exchanged a couple more pleasantries before we filed into yet another elevator. I swear, the fucker who designed this place must have had a glass fetish or something.

As we began our ascent, the commander started to give out his last pre-battle orders. Well, assuming these dirty guards are dumb enough to try to stop us. With the amount of arrogance I've seen on this iceball of a planet, I wouldn't put money against it.

"Talk before firing. I'm announcing our intentions as soon as we arrive so unless their numbers are overwhelming, let them take the first shot at us." The software in my artificial eye started to come to life as the man's circuits came alive with crackling biotic energy flowing every which way as he activated his barrier. "If and when the firing starts, don't hold anything back. I'm going to give them the option to get out of here alive just once and if they don't take it, well that's their fault."

Damn Shepard. I've gotta say, the more I've worked with this guy the more I've realized he's not quite the goody two-shoes I thought he was all this time, and I don't mind that one bit.

As the elevator doors swiveled open, we walked down a long hallway only to be accosted by two guards. At least they're smart enough to leave someone to keep watch while they commit crimes, not that it's going to help one bit once the shooting starts.

"Stay where you are!" The human woman raised a palm as her turian companion hoisted a rifle. "This office is currently undergoing investigation by Port Hanshan security."

Each of us in turn responded in our own way. Liara's biotics flared to life, Tali hoisted a pistol as her omni-tool simultaneously glowed bright orange, Wrex chuckled as he drew out his shotgun and Chelsea whipped her rifle out and drew a bead on the turian. Meanwhile, Caleb just crossed his biotically charged arms and I thrust my hands forward, putting a shimmering purple wall between us and them.

Finally. I was starting to worry this planet would never get interesting.

 **A/N: Hey what's up guys! I am finally on Spring Break as of today (although it's not quite as fun when you still have to work full-time) so I am going to be writing and playing a crap-ton of Horizon Zero Dawn which is an awesome game. I know Andromeda's coming out soon but if you have a PS4 and are looking for something to play I cannot recommend that one enough.**

 **Ranger Station Charlie is still my co-pilot and still kicks ass.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Sniperdude79: Well…no spoilers but I definitely have had something in mind for Virmire basically since I've started writing this so that's pretty much set in stone as to how it's going to go down. As for the pairing, that is definitely a possibility.**

 **Dekuton: Well, it didn't happen this chapter so you will have to wait but the good news is that fight will kick off the next chapter pretty much immediately.**

 **GJD: Thanks!**

 **FalloutFan: Wow, I don't want to clog this up responding to everything so I'll just say thanks for the reviews and yes, not every interaction is viewed by Wolf just because of the limited first-person perspective I'm writing from but that conversation between Caleb and Garrus definitely happened.**

 **NW113: Thanks for the feedback and support! I'm definitely leaning towards an OC-centric cast with cameos from canon characters in the interim. Honestly, I thought I would enjoy writing the ME1 stuff more but I liked the freeform nature I had in the first book so I'll probably be going back to that.**

 **Blaze1992: That's something I've thought about. It would definitely fit his need for an automatic rifle with medium to long range capabilities so keep your eyes open!**


	23. I Guess That Concludes Negotiations

"We know you're being paid off by Anoleis. Leave now and we'll let you walk out alive." Caleb stood tall as he stared down the two combatants in front of us, unaffected by the weapons pointed in his direction. When they hesitated, his voice blared through the earpiece in my mask. "Chelsea, Wolf, Wrex, I want you three to do your thing. If they don't listen, then you have my permission to kick it off."

The Lion's twin sister started in with the intimidation routine. "What chance do you think you have against two Spectres with an elite team behind them?"

"Bravery and loyalty are great but don't be morons, that asshole of a salarian isn't worth dying over. Drop your fucking guns and get the hell out of my face."

Having said my piece, Wrex capped it off as he cradled his massive Claymore shotgun. "Credits aren't going to do you pyjaks, a whole lot of good if there's a hole in your skull."

"You're right." With a loud sigh, she motioned to her companion. "I don't get paid nearly enough to deal with this kind of shit." Her hands went skyward. "We're going to walk through the six of you now, our hands are staying up."

Tali scoffed. "You're just going to call for backup and stab us in the back. Shepard, we should grab any communication devices they've got on them."

"Good thinking." He held out one hand palm open while the other had snakelike tendrils of biotic energy coursing around it, ready to attack. "Helmets and omni-tools stay with us."

"You're the boss." She tossed her headgear to the floor and the two took off the bracelets that held their electronic devices.

"Wolf, deal with the helmet quietly." Caleb ordered me.

"Roger that." Taking a knee next to the woman's armor piece, I generated a warp in my hand that burned and twisted the piece of equipment in no time whatsoever. "We should probably keep the tools, Tali quickly do a scan to make sure nothing funny goes off and after that we might be able to get something from them."

"Fair point." He tucked the two devices into an armor compartment after Tali did a quick swipe with her omni-tool and just like that, we were alone again. "Wolf, Wrex. Take Point."

Keeping low to the ground, I crouch-ran forward and tucked up against a large stone pillar, activating my omni-tool's camera function as I did so. As I reached my hand out, the stillness of the office was broken in an instant as gunfire slammed into the walls and floor in my vicinity.

"Looks like the rest aren't gonna go down without a fight Shep." I swiveled my head towards him. "I didn't catch much but the layout looks like there's a second floor, and I'm pretty sure there was more than one sniper there."

"Chelsea, you go with Wolf and Liara. Take the second floor and secure it then use it as a perch to spot and provide support. The three of us will fight our way around the lower floor here."

"Looks like a lot of blind corners and little hiding spots." Wrex sprinted into the open, allowing his regenerative abilities to tank whatever fire managed to pierce his hefty biotic barrier. "Make sure to clear every last bit out, we don't need some coward hiding in a corner to shoot us in the back after we've passed."

Once the ground team started to fan out, it was finally our turn. "I see you brought that grenade launcher Wolf…" Chelsea's grin was practically visible just from the tone of her voice. "What do you think about launching one up onto that balcony so I can get a little room to set up?"

"Done." Stowing my pistol, I hoisted the M-100 from my back and prepped a regular frag round. "Liara, once Chelsea starts firing I want you to slap a singularity on the first fucker you see."

"Understood."

Heaving a calming sigh, I swiveled out, took a half-second to line up the shot and fired. The cylindrical explosive found its mark and one guard flew from the upper story, landing some fifty feet below with a sickening crunch that ended the screams. "Move!"

The Sole Survivor of Akuze took full advantage of the distraction I had caused, deploying her N7 Typhoon's bipod and lighting up the second floor in a glorious display of bullets. Trusting that Liara would have my back, I rounded the corner fully now and took the staircase three at a time.

Our first opponent announced his presence with a yell and a blast from his shotgun. My shields took the full brunt of the blow and with the spray came a red beep from my HUD, announcing the dangerously low levels it had just reached. However, I didn't stop running forward and my faith was rewarded as a biotic field arced its way over my head, landing behind the man and sucking him straight into the attack's gravitational pull. By the time I readied myself and hurled a warp into the swirling mass, another dirty cop had been drawn in. The two corrupt guards were fully ensnared by the destructive biotic chain, the reaction ripping apart their armor and throwing them off the ledge.

Pausing just a moment to give an update, I tucked behind a large concrete pillar. "Chels, we've secured a foothold up here if you wanna…leapfrog us….nevermind."

My pause came at seeing that the woman was already in the middle of vaulting over a low crate adjacent to me, shotgun blasting all the while. "One step ahead of you Wolf."

"I will make sure that you are covered if you would like to join her attack."

"You're the best, Blue."

Deciding to follow her example, I pulled out my N7 Piranha and charged to even the gap. Now the two of us were advancing straight up the two sidewalls which meant that their attention no longer was on the downstairs but instead on the two shotgun-wielding maniacs, that were charging them with reckless speed.

"Catch 'em in an x-pattern."

That was all she needed to say. Thanks to the narrowness of the quarters we were fighting in, I had a better angle on her opponents and vice-versa. Meaning that before they could even pop out to shoot the one of us that was on their immediate front, the other was blasting at them in a near forty-five degree angle.

The two of us kept up the frenetic assault, strafe-stepping so that we could effectively cover each other. "Keep moving Wolf." Out of the corner of my eye, I watched someone pop up and try to draw a bead on me, only to get mercilessly gunned down by three quick shotgun blasts. "We've almost cleared the platform." Every bone in my Vanguard body was screaming to just charge forward biotically and smash whoever was still hiding behind cover but I listened to my CO's words and continued our deliberate advance. "My side, watch out."

Now it was my turn to cover for her as a helmeted guard peeked his rifle around a crate. "I don't fucking think so." Letting biotic energy course through my nervous system, I harnessed a pull that caught him right in the shoulder. As the Hanshan security member tumbled skyward, I fired three bursts in quick succession that ended his life as puffs of red mist flew from his chest. "You're good Chels."

"My hero."

I smirked at her casual banter, as if we weren't facing down armed guards. In an attempt to keep up with her, I adopted the drawl my former squadmate Ben Vandel spoke with. "I'll keep you safe from the big baddies. Don't you worry one bit darlin'."

She just laughed. Each, "ha," was punctuated with sharp bursts from her assault rifle that tore through the armor of the ERCS member directly in front of me. "What the hell was that? Were you trying to speak with a southern accent?"

"Trying and succeeding." Finally, we reached the end of the platform which was now devoid of enemies completely. "What's the plan now bosslady?"

She tucked the Typhoon on her back and pulled out an N7 Valiant sniper rifle, giving me a little slug in the arm as she passed. "Liara stays here with me and provides aerial cover. You charge down there and freelance."

"Have I ever told you how great it is to work for you Chels? Deadly and good-looking doesn't come together too often so it's truly a pleasure to see it in action."

"While I appreciate the flattery Wolf, you do realize you said that on the open channel right?"

A light chorus of laughter, accented with a deeper rumbling from our resident krogan answered her. However, the words that came were from the younger twin of the woman I had just complimented. "We could use your help down here Wolf. If you're not too busy flirting with my sister of course."

I coughed loudly in embarrassment and crouched low, choosing my target as I spoke up. "Don't worry Shep, I know not to make a move against a protective Lion." One guard in particular seemed to have a decent angle on the three of them, and I figured that my surprise attack would be maximized at that particular location, also allowing myself to secure a safe spot.

"Right. Butcher incoming, watch your fire."

The familiar feel and tunnel vision that came with a charge enveloped me as I sped across the battlefield in a blur. In front of me, the turian recoiled and tried to bring his weapon towards me but my hand was quicker and that was all it took. My entire arm glowed blue as I prepared a Palm Crush and that was all it took to end the fight. As I released the attack, his helmet warped instantly as it crumpled like paper against the destructive barrage of charged ions I released.

"One down, where do you need me Shep?"

"Prioritize target to your right."

"Moving."

I decided that the quiet destruction of targets was the best course of action considering the fact that Caleb's over protective side was probably in high gear right now. That'll be fun to deal with later on after this is over. God the inevitable trip up to Peak Fifteen is going to be a real awkward one isn't it?

This time though, my enemy saw me coming and started to fire a barrage my way. Scrambling as my barriers started to weaken, I tucked up against a pillar. "He's distracted. Now's the time to-"

A roar silenced me as Wrex decided to make the guard pay for leaving the main group unattended. As the bullets stopped coming my way, I snaked my head out only to see the raging krogan had picked the man up by his neck before throwing him to the ground. For a second, I thought maybe my new eezo vision wasn't working properly as I saw no trace of biotic activity coming from the battlemaster which meant that he had picked up the fully armored human with sheer strength alone. When it activated a second later as his foot came down on the guard, I knew it wasn't a fluke.

A singularity glided in over my shoulder and from the angle, I could tell that it was from T'Soni. I didn't even have to detonate it as the commander took it upon himself to complete the chain via a throw orb that sent two guards hurtling backwards into the concrete wall where they lay still. Three heavy rounds burst through the chest of a turian, who had neglected Chelsea's presence on the upper level and at this point it was just clean-up. I helped Tali finish off one enemy she had caught with an overload that fried his shields and sent him to the ground in a spasm but after that, all was quiet.

"Team assemble on the lower level. Chelsea I want you to take Wrex and Wolf to the door, make sure no reinforcements get in. Liara, Tali you're with me. I saw some data drives in the back that should have what we're looking for if they haven't destroyed everything already."

"Roger that bro." Chelsea gave a two-finger salute and trudged to the front door, flanked by the two of us.

However, it was pretty easy to notice from the downward tilt of the head and general slouch, that something had gotten her down. I swear this woman is a fucking rollercoaster of human emotions. She makes me look positively levelheaded and that's saying something considering I'll fight somebody at the drop of a hat. Or the mention of a drop of a hat.

"Chels you all good?" I hesitantly quizzed the woman.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." In response, I tossed out a simple, "uh huh," and just waited for the actual reason which came just a few seconds later. "It's just that I was **really** hoping this Stirling chick would be here. That whore tried to take my guns away and I didn't get to even do anything thanks to everybody on this frozen shitball of a planet having a stick up their ass."

I had to fight the laughter down. "You do realize that you're talking about killing a guard right? While I agree that she was kind of an ass, even on planets where the people don't have sticks up their ass you can't just go around shooting security."

"Well technically since I'm a Spectre-"

"Don't even think about it."

"Already did. In fact I would say I've firmly set foot in the, 'pondering,' stage."

My tone of voice was as if I was arguing with a headstrong teenager…so basically myself back in Detroit pre-military, and sometimes post-military too. "Come on, you know you'd regret just killing somebody in cold blood. Even if she was rude enough to try and take your weapons away."

"I guess." The N7 woman with the platinum blonde hair sighed.

"That doesn't mean it still wouldn't be fun though." Wrex growled out.

In response, I glared at him from behind the bright red eyes of my Recon Hood. "Not helping right now big guy."

"Just saying."

"So do we just sit here then?" I don't think any of the three of us were big fans of waiting and taking it upon myself to voice that, I joined Chelsea in her dejected state of being.

"Pretty much." Seemingly not concerned in the slightest, Chelsea took a seat on a stone-walled garden and put her shotgun in her lap. "If anybody's dumb enough to come in here and try to stop us from collecting the data, we make sure they don't make it out of the lobby in one piece."

"Just checking but I'm the one they call the, 'Butcher of Torfan,' right? Because you're awfully feisty today. More than usual I mean."

"Heh. When you're more battle-hungry than a krogan that's saying something."

"This place is stifling and I get bored easily." She fiddled with the weapon she was holding. "When I'm bored there's only two things I like to do and one of them is fighting."

"Christ Chelsea, I did not want to know." The voice of her twin brother squawked in our ears.

"What? I was going to say eating was the other one." She was finally perking up now. "Where did your mind go you damn pervert? Jeez, try to be a professional for once in your life Lieutenant Commander Shepard. Not everything's about sex."

Apparently there was a third she liked to do when lacking in stimulus and that was tease the shit out of people. I'm just glad that I'm not the target at the moment. "Chelsea…I swear." That was all the flustered commando could get out before returning back to the safe waters of mission details. "Tali is about done with the data retrieval here so just hold it down for another couple minutes and we'll go talk to Qui'in."

"And then on to Peak Fifteen?" Liara questioned?

"Depending on how long this takes." The voice of the commander answered back. "If it's dark by the time this whole mess is done with, we might have to bunk down for the night and head out first thing in the morning. I don't know how long the day to night cycle is in this place."

My ears pricked at the sound of an ascending elevator. "Think we might have company."

"I fucking hope so." Chelsea vaulted from her seated position. "You two stand to either side of me and try to look as non-threatening as you can considering you're who you are."

"You sure you don't mean the opposite Shepard?"

"Yeah what Wrex said."

"I meant what I said." She turned and glared daggers through her clear visor. "If either of you scare off whoever this is I will kick both of your asses."

"I'm not used to this kind of order but alright."

Wrex grumbled. "Being non-threatening isn't something I'm good at."

"Just leave it to me." As if she couldn't get happier, the object of her focused hate sauntered into this place like she fucking owned it, accompanied by a trio of fellow guards who had been assuredly been paid off too. The blonde biotic opened her mouth to speak but Chelsea made sure to get in the first word. "Still wanna take my guns? They're all right here so just come on over and we'll settle this like grown women."

At that, the security officer just bristled. "Chels, I know you can handle her but just remember she's a biotic."

"I'm not an amateur Wolf. I do remember that much at least."

"Right. Also, please just let me get a hit in at some point. I've been waiting for this moment since we got here."

"No promises Wolf."

Having seen the lifeless security that now haphazardly littered the place, Stirling was furious. "You bastards are all dead, you hear me? Do you have any idea what we do to cop killers where I'm from?"

I couldn't help but chime in from my, "non-threatening," position leaning against the wall. "Huh. I don't know. It's probably not too much worse than what we do to dirty cops where I come from you hypocritical fuck."

"And it's definitely not worse than Tuchanka. Back home we would skin them alive and leave them for the beasts." I'm never sure whether Wrex is serious or not…now is definitely one of those times.

Stirling's body became alive with biotic energy as the member of Clan Urdnot finished speaking and I charged across the room, grabbing Chelsea and bringing her to the floor in the process. A quarter-second afterwards, a warp orb burned into the structure behind the woman I had just tackled.

Unperturbed, she got off the ground and made an elaborate show of dusting herself off. "Nice reflexes on that one Wolf."

I grinned at the compliment only for my heart to drop at the next words that came in from the commander himself. "Team, take her alive. We need Anoleis out of here to get a garage pass and her testimony could help convict him."

"Fuck." Swearing under my breath, I moved behind a pillar. "If you say so sir. Could we possibly keep someone alive who's less of a bitch though?" There was no answer except for gunfire. "Fine. Just thought I'd throw that out there. There's always alternatives to the situation."

"I don't like it either but if bro says it, we're gonna have to." Chelsea whispered over a private channel.

Finally deciding to kick things off, I did a quick survey and noticed that Wrex was in the middle of crushing a turian's chestplate with repeated shotgun blasts. As the alien dropped to the ground, dark armor stained red, he turned slightly and raised a fist before bringing it down. I hadn't noticed in the chaos but a woman had been suspended in mid-air and now was hurtling downwards to the stone headfirst. Chelsea meanwhile was switching between her arsenal of weapons, keeping three enemies pinned, including the biotic bitch. Guess it's my turn.

Sprinting across the open space, I brought up enough of a Bio-Cade to cover my immediate person. My initial plan was to use that as a battering ram against the one person out in the open who was firing at me but that changed when they reached for their belt.

"Fuckin' hell." A cylindrical device flew towards me and not knowing how much time I would have, I focused all my biotic strength into trapping it in a bubble. I caught the initial blast and metal shards that flew with my improvised dome but the backdraft was enough to throw me fully onto my back.

As my HUD gave me the oh so helpful warning once again that my shields were nearly depleted, I heard the pissed off bark of a shotgun. Well now my shields are completely gone. And my biotics are going to need a few seconds to recharge too. Fucking great, I guess I'll get to test out this new chest-piece I got from Miranda now at least though.

Scrambling like a rat who'd been exposed to the light, I dove behind a stone garden as the spread of a shotgun blast flew overhead. Thank god for stupidly strong architecture. You know I might have complained about them building this entire building out of only cement but now I'm actually a little thankful for it.

"You're fucking dead! You hear me?"

"No I'm actually having trouble." I need him in close if this is going to work. "Why don't you bring your dumb ass over here and say it again you stupid shit? If you're dumb enough to take that salarian bastard's bribes, then I figure you're dumb enough to actually listen to me."

There was an almost strangled cry of anger and the loud clapping of combat boots on stone let me know my plan worked. God people are stupid sometimes.

As soon as I saw the glint of a shotgun barrel appear over my cover, I moved into action. With trained practice that only comes with repeating the same motion thousands of times, I moved upwards and knocked the weapon sideways as it barked out once again. Now that his chest was completely exposed, I vaulted the object that had just saved my ass and used it to launch a heavy kick into his torso. It was only three steps that it knocked him backwards but that was all the room I needed to operate.

With the agility of a thief, I brought my six-foot three frame down low and ducked into the safety of being inside the other person's arm radius. It might seem counter-intuitive to be that close to danger but when you're holding a shotgun with both hands the most dangerous thing is someone slipping inside your reach. Trust me, I know from experience. It's almost caught me more than once.

The guard wasn't going to get the chance to learn from my hands-on lesson however. Grabbing my M11 in one smooth motion, I jammed it against the side of his helmet and pulled the trigger twice, just to make sure the job was done.

"My target's down."

Chelsea answered back. "They keep coming from the elevator here. A few slipped through but Caleb's handling them right now. Shit!" A pained groan came from the woman. "That bitch needs to go down right the fuck now."

"You alright?" I shouted in a slight panic as I ran to get a better view of the battlefield.

"I'm fucking fine, just bring that Stirling woman down now. She caught my arm in a warp and I'm only using my pistol right now."

"Your wish is my command my lady."

The blonde guard was hurling biotic attacks at the elder Shepard, just trying to catch her while she was popping out to fire at the other guards. I couldn't see Wrex but I heard the roar of a Claymore and rumbling laughter so he seemed to be doing just fine.

Simultaneously as she rose, Chelsea let loose with an automatic burst of fire at a Hanshan Security member who had gotten a bit too bold. Stitching a tight pattern across his chest, I saw her hurriedly fiddle with her omni-tool before leaning back against her barricade. I'm guessing that was her kicking the medi-gel flow into overdrive which means I need to move now.

"Incoming!"

Now that my biotics had finally recharged after the strain I had put on them previously, I launched myself into their leader's midst like a human cannonball. With all the explosiveness of said device, I didn't let her recover from her surprise at my presence.

I managed to fire a half-dozen shots with my pistol at the woman, not even managing to break her barriers, before I found myself frozen. Fucking amateur mistake.

Thankfully she was as smug a bitch as the first impression she gave to us made her seem because the blonde biotic took the time to gloat at trapping me in stasis. My eezo vision tracked the flow of blue through her body as she wound up like a pitcher throwing a baseball. In return, I closed my eyes, focused on the burning sensation that spread like fire through my veins and summoned a heavy warp field around my hands.

As the field around me exploded outwards, I ducked low and rolled forward. I heard the pulsating orb she hurled at me crash into a wall but I had no time to look. Striking now was the only option, she wouldn't make the same mistake of pausing to savor the kill twice. Not that was I going to let her have the opportunity anyway.

Closing the gap in the time it takes to clap your hands, I threw myself forward in a biotic charge. Stopping the technique just a few paces short of the woman, I kept up the speed in a full sprint, not even slowing as I brought both feet up to slam into her chest. Adding in a friendly little touch, I increased the density in my lower half at the point of contact, which would only add to the destructive blow. Both of us went to the ground thanks to my self-destructive attack but since I knew what was coming, I was able to cushion myself nicely. Stirling on the other hand, was not so lucky.

The guard flew backwards, her chest plate cracked from the sheer force of the blow. Her barriers had been up initially and I thought they would have taken the brunt of the blow but apparently the effort of a quick biotic combo had taken a toll on her reserves. Not feeling one bit sorry for the enemy who was currently struggling to her feet and trying to grab a shotgun from the floor next to her, I grabbed her by the facemask and smashed her skull backwards into the floor.

With my assignment done, I surveyed the room to see if anyone else was in need of help but it looked like I was the only one still fighting. The rest of the ground team was wearily stumbling their way towards me and the bosslady herself gave a nod as she walked past to cuff Stirling. After removing the unconscious woman's helmet and surveying the damage she cursed audibly.

"Fucking hell Wolf. You did hear what bro was saying about using her to oust Anoleis right?" She wasn't in great condition at the moment. From the red liquid matting the back of her head, I might have slammed her down with a bit more force than I meant to. And that's not even talking about the damage to her chest. "Weren't you a bounty hunter before this? I thought you guys are supposed to take people in alive?"

I bristled defensively. "She's still breathing isn't she? Slap some medi-gel on the back of her head and she'll be fine."

"In a few days maybe." This time the male Shepard answered. "Which is time we don't exactly have right now. Damn it." The N7 Adept swore uncharacteristically. "Having her in our back pocket would have been huge. This is all riding on Qui'in and Parasini now."

"Let's just hope they don't fuck us over once we do what they want." Chelsea smothered the back of the unconscious security member in the healing paste before signaling for Wrex to hoist her. "Shit. Why'd you have to beat her half to death Wolf? You were a Goddamn N7, if anybody here should be able to disable a biotic without splitting their fucking skull in half I would hope you'd be capable of it."

My annoyance at being questioned was rising. Even if I knew they were mostly in the right on this one, when it comes down to fighting against another biotic in close quarters, without the right tools nonlethal takedowns can be tricky. "I don't know Chelsea? Maybe I should have just let you take that warp field in the chest just so she could stay alive? Ooh I know, I could have just chilled out when she trapped me and been on the receiving end of a biotic detonation! That would have been just great."

Pointing to her armpiece that looked like it had been put on a grill for a few hours, I continued to rant. "We're lucky that it was only your arm that got hit. As badly as they outnumbered us, it could have been a hell of a lot worse, you've seen the results of what a biotic attack can do. Even for someone as ridiculously talented as you, if you think you can control every little thing that happens in a fight then you're fucking insane. Of anybody in here to pull shit like that, the two of us should know more than anyone that things just go bad sometimes, and there's not a fucking thing you can do about it."

"Don't talk to me about something that you have no fucking clue what you're even saying." Chelsea had closed the distance and was now in my face, pointing her index finger at me while her warp-burned one hung at her side. Her icy tone continued as she finished her thought. "Nobody on this team is dying on my watch. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that happens."

"Are you really that fucking delusional or have you somehow managed to delude yourself into believing something that goes against every life experience we've ever had?" I smacked her hand out of the way. The rest of the team watched in a sort of horrified fascination, but I was too wrapped up in the argument to care about that. "And get your fucking finger out of my face too. I just dove to save you from catching a biotic attack full-on in the chest, an attack that would have either killed you or at the very least put a serious road bump in your career. You can't guarantee your own safety let alone the safety of everybody here. People might die. We all realized it when we signed on."

"You're wrong. You're just making excuses up for yourself in advance because you're afraid of failing again."

The woman was almost trembling with rage. Damn, Akuze must have fucked her up worse than I realized if the mere thought of losing a squadmate messed with her this badly. This is almost worse than the whole episode with her, "going numb." I guess dealing with me, someone with such a similar history of losing people around them but completely opposite view on the matter must be infuriating. The fact that there might be a grain of truth in what she was saying, that I had practically already accepted people would die just so I wouldn't have to deal with all the pain again hit a bit close to home.

"That's enough, both of you!" For the second time in a short while, I found myself trapped. This time though Chelsea was directly opposite me and staring furiously. As the Lion of Elysium roared, I mouthed two rather impolite words to the immobile woman across me from that were rather inflammatory. Was it childish? Yes, extremely so. But it was also satisfying. "Both of you cut the shit now! You're acting like a couple of children fighting over a toy!"

I closed my eyes and exhaled loudly. It was all I could do while stuck in the commander's field. The fact that I could warp myself out at any moment did run through my mind but considering the situation, I thought better of it and let the man talk.

"I'm going to let you both out here in a second and if either of you so much as gives the other a dirty look, I'll put you back in stasis before you can blink." He followed through on his word and I fell to a knee. The sudden freedom was something my legs weren't ready for apparently. "You two are professionals, straighten up and start acting like it. Right now a krogan merc, quarian on pilgrimage, and an asari scientist are acting more like soldiers than you. I expect better."

He just whirled and put his back to us, expecting that we would follow without an order. God it felt like being a teenager in Detroit again. That whole disappointed dad routine is something the commander does pretty well apparently.

I didn't turn from looking straight ahead as the six of us piled into the elevator, the awkward silence immediately filling the cramped space that was even more taken up, thanks to the unconscious body of Stirling that was thrown over Wrex's shoulder. I'm not sure what Chelsea was thinking as my intense scrutiny of the wall in front of me did not waver, but I was torn between being generally pissed off at her and annoyed at myself for letting down my CO with my behavior. The angry side was in the lead by a good margin in this footrace though.

Not a word was spoken the entire ride down. At least, not until we were accosted by the ever-present Gianna Parasini who seemed to pop up like a fucking magician.

"Commander." The pink-dressed woman gave a slight nod. Her tone was almost coy as she spoke. "Rumors of loud noises from the Synthetic Insights office are running like wildfire across the station. I don't suppose you would have any information on the subject?"

Usually I would have chimed in with some smart-ass remark asking what ever made her think that, but I wasn't exactly in the mood. Neither was the other member of our crew most likely to chime in so that left it up to the boss-man to fend for himself against the well-dressed secretary.

"Anoleis sent a group of thugs under her leadership to ransack Qui'in's office. Apparently he's using ERCS as his personal goon squad now because they fired on us without provocation on our end."

Wrex set down the blonde woman who had stopped bleeding at this point. Deciding to be helpful and silent, I scrolled through the bounty hunting folder of my omni-tool functions and generated a pair of cuffs. Pinning the unmoving biotic's arms behind her back, I stood up. "She's all yours."

"We were hoping to use her testimony as further proof against Anoleis but she was too injured in the fight to be of much use currently." Well at least he didn't throw me under the bus in front of the outsider, solidarity and all that shit. "Give her some time and I'm sure she'll make an excellent piece in whatever it is you're planning."

"Speaking of that." She tapped her toe in thought. "Meet me at the bar in a half-hour. I'll turn her in to the proper authorities and then we can talk in a more private setting. I know I can't make you do anything but please wait to talk to Qui'in until we've had a chance to speak. It will increase our chances of taking down Anoleis exponentially."

"Roger that. We have some business to take care of anyway so we can wait a few minutes at least." Caleb waited until she walked away to turn to the rest of us. "You heard the lady." He turned to his twin first. "Chelsea. Get your arm looked at by Chakwas and then come back to meet us at the bar. Take Liara and Wrex with you."

"Understood." Her head jerked sideways as she stomped off. "Let's move ladies."

"You two are with me." The quarrian and myself fell in step behind him. I'm not gonna lie, now that the adrenaline from the fight and what happened afterwards was wearing off I was hanging my head a little bit. If I had taken out Stirling with a bit more finesse this could have been avoided. Maybe if I had put her in Stasis first I could have-

"Stop beating yourself up Wolf." While I was mired in my own personal swamp, I didn't even notice that Tali had sidled up next to me and opened a personal channel.

"How do you know I'm beating myself up?"

She giggled lightly. It honestly made me smile a little bit despite the situation just to hear the young woman's pure laughter. "I've picked up enough on your body language in the time we've been together."

I let myself fall into the conversation. Giving a teasing poke to her shoulder, I kept pace just a few steps behind our leader. "So you're saying you watch me around the ship then, huh?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Incredulous, she stumbled to find the right words. "Why do you have to twist everything to make it sound dirty?"

"It's more fun that way." Shrugging, I rubbed the top of her helmet which caused her to stumble side-to-side. "And I should probably say thanks too. I appreciate you trying to get me out of my own head."

Her hands shot up from her side and her irritation seemingly changed to a flustered nervousness. "Of course." Both of the girl's hands wriggled in the other's grasp. "You're my teammate. I just want to help out."

"Well you're doing much better job of it than I am. It seems like I'm only good for getting people annoyed at me."

"That's not true!" She smacked me in the chest and I was caught off-guard by her vehemence. "Liara was scared of you and now look, the two of you were meditating together like it was no big deal."

"Well-"

"And Garrus. He didn't like you at first and now the two of you seem to be friendly."

"I mean, friendly is kind of a strong word. I would say we respect each other's abilities and motivations."

She was fully rolling now though. "Ashley too. She would glare at you every time you walked past at first and now…" Tali shook her head. "Now you guys are friends too. I'd say that's not too bad for someone who's, 'only good for getting people annoyed,' like you said."

Glancing down at the floor, I just shook my head and accepted my defeat. "Fine, you win. I'm not as much of an asshole as I like to pretend to be. That doesn't change the fact that Chelsea and I will either flirt or get into a fistfight every other time we're in the same room seemingly at random. I think we're too alike or something."

"You'll figure it out."

"If you say so. I just hope it's soon, because I have a feeling this whole mess isn't over quite yet."

She reached into a compartment on her armor and pulled out a paste-looking object before inspecting in thoroughly. "How do you manage to worry so much about the past and future at the same time? Just focus on doing the best you can right now."

"Remind me again, which one of us was the N7 war vet here?"

"You are, you bosh'tet." She shoved me forward so I fell in step with Shepard. "So start acting like it."

 **A/N: So Andromeda's finally out and it's just kind of a meh for me. It's definitely a good game, don't get me wrong. I'm loving the Multiplayer so far and if somebody put a gun to my head then forced me to give it a number rating I'd say about a 7.5 or so, it's just that the story and characters haven't vibed with me yet on anywhere near the level of the original trilogy. I'm still holding out hope though, I'm definitely going to play it through at least once so maybe I'll change my mind.**

 **Ranger Station Charlie is still the Beta and hopefully will be teaming up with me in Multiplayer this weekend to kick some ass ;)**

 **Question of the week: What, if anything, would you like to see incorporated into this story from Andromeda? I just unlocked the kickass Human Kineticist so keep an eye out for somebody to learn the "lance" technique but is there any other elements whether it's characters, weapons, techniques, etc, that you'd like to see?**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **GJD: Well they did survive with their lives so that's something at least.**

 **Blaze1992: Going forward that's going to become an increasing focus of the story so I'm definitely excited to write more about the opportunistic trickster side of Wolf.**

 **Ronnambi: Thanks! I'll be going with a bit of an alternate take on Peak 15 too so hopefully you'll like that as well ;)**

 **Gaara: I answered most of it in the PM so I'll just say thanks again for the review!**


	24. Are We There Yet?

"Now that all six of you are here, I guess I should reintroduce myself." Parasini scanned the hotel bar discreetly before continuing. "Gianna Parasini, I'm with Noveria Internal Affairs."

I faked a gasp. "You mean you're not just a random assistant plotting to overthrow their corrupt boss? I never would have guessed."

"Wolf…" The commander gave me the side-eye and his usual, "now's not the time," tone at which I sighed.

"Fine. I'll just keep my witty running commentary going in my own head if you insist on depriving the rest of the group."

"Just wait until after this is done and we're on the way to Peak Fifteen. I promise you can banter away to your heart's content once the actual fighting starts."

I smirked and gave an approving nod. "You've got yourself a deal."

"Is he always like this?" Parasini observed me with an amused expression.

"Yes." The other five members of the ground team chimed in with almost scary timing.

"Well then, let me get to the point. I'm sure you've pieced together the information from your time here and speaking with some of the locals, but Anoleis' fraudulency is well-known by the Noverian Executive Board." She shook her head. "As much of an asshole as he is, the salarian's smart. I've been undercover for half-a-year and this is my first real chance at taking that slimy bastard down. If you can convince Qui'in to testify in addition to the evidence you recovered we have a really good chance at making sure that Anoleis goes behind bars for a very long time."

Chelsea tapped her toe. Knowing her, she was probably already growing impatient at the amount of bureaucracy we still were plowing our way through. Would have guessed that the little fight back at Synthetic Insights would tide her over until we're able to actually get to the real meat of the mission, but it looks like it just made things worse.

"What does this have to do with us?" The blonde-haired woman barked out. "Anoleis is an ass for sure, but we still have to get to Peak Fifteen."

"You do this for me and you'll have a pass within the hour." I tried not to scream for joy at that. Getting out of this morgue of a place sounded like heaven to me. "By this point Anoleis is probably picking up on the fact that I'm not exactly who I say I am. You haven't exactly been subtle here so our meeting is going to tip him off to my real objective. That's why I **need** you to talk to Qui'in." She was almost pleading now. "The man doesn't trust me. He still thinks I'm a secretary for that salarian asshole so he won't talk to me but if you can convince him, that will be enough to finally oust the administrator for good."

"We have a deal." Shepard didn't waste time. God I still don't get him, sometimes he can be a cold asshole like me and sometimes he's a complete goody two-shoes. I wonder where that line is drawn in his own brain.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I really do owe you all one. And speaking of owing something…you," Parasini's finger was leveled at my chest, "still owe me a drink."

"You want him, go ahead and take him." Chelsea waved a hand dismissively in my general direction. "Gives us time to persuade Lorik anyway. Just make sure you're done with him by the time we get back. Despite everything else, he's still somewhat useful for drawing a few bullets in his direction."

"Thanks Chels, it's so nice to be appreciated."

As they left and the two of us made our way to a booth, I started to groan. "Just, why the fuck is it always me…" I covered my chin with my gloved hand, letting it slide down my skin slowly. "I was honestly hoping you had forgotten about that."

"You'll find out there's not much that I tend to forget Mr. Wolfert." Her raven hair shook a little as she laughed lightheartedly. "The whole secretary thing is just a bit, I wouldn't have been able to stay undercover for this long if I wasn't a good actor as well as smart."

"I take it you've never heard the saying about letting others be the one to praise you?" Putting both elbows on the table, I dismissed the waiter who came by to take our order as she went for something that sounded like a sugary alcoholic death. Instead, I pulled out a nutrient drink from my armor compartment and started to chug that. "I'm assuming this is business related and you've looked into my past but I'll share one thing that's not in there. The whole manipulative thing I can do? Yeah I'd really rather not have to so if you try and pull something on me, consider yourself warned. You jerk me around at all and I'll leave this table in a heartbeat. Only reason I'm here is because you've helped us out so far, even if you've made us run across this entire damn station in the meanwhile. So go ahead and talk. I'll listen but I'm making zero promises other than that."

"Wow." A little smile played across her face. "That was rather blunt."

"I'm only twenty-six but I've put up with enough bullshit to last a couple lifetimes. If you've even done a brief history of me you should know that pretty well…so either cut to the chase or if this is just a social call then let me know."

At that, she actually laughed loudly before pointing across the table at me. "You know, after dealing with Anoleis for so long it's rather refreshing to just talk straight up for once so I'll, 'cut to the chase,' as you say." The darker-skinned woman leaned forward and cocked her head. "What did you talk to those two about in the bar? I'm paid to know what's going on in this station and the fact you chatted with representatives from Armali and Binary Helix didn't escape me. I need to confirm that you're not here to make trouble in Port Hanshan."

Now it was my turn to smile. The coy game is something I can play just about as well as the blunt asshole routine. "I was just trying to get information about a garage pass." I gave the most innocent look I could muster. "I'm paid as a contractor to help my CO's in any way possible and that's what I was trying to do."

"That so?" She brought the drink to her lips and took a sizable gulp. "From what I heard it was a rather long conversation just to be told no."

"I get bored easily. And sometimes I just like fucking with people." Illustrating what I was saying, I gripped my kukri and started to pull it slowly, only allowing a glimpse of the blade. "Once I learned they were dead ends, I might have talked a bit of shop with them. I am co-owner of a weapons and armor store actually…did I forget to mention that? Huh, must have just slipped my mind."

"Indeed." Surprisingly, she didn't seem to be getting mad at my completely obvious run-around. If she had any kind of goods on me, now would be the time to play the card but still, she seemed content just to chat. "It's a good thing we performed thorough background checks on all the Spectre's companions then."

"Gotta give the Noverian Board props, even if they put Anoleis in place they more than made up for it with solid vetting and putting you in charge of IA." My right eye closed in an exaggerated wink. "Although the secretary life might not be a bad alternative if you ever want to switch careers. I personally don't get along well with cops so the uniform might be a turn-off but that dress looks great on you."

"The reports didn't mention you were a flatterer." Now I could see why she was in the job she was in. Parasini was not only good at playing the game but clearly enjoyed it too despite her complaints to the opposite.

I leaned back in my chair and finished the nutrient drink. "There's a lot the reports don't say about me apparently. Some things you can only learn in person and face-to-face."

"Oh? Such as?"

Pretending to think for a moment, I tossed an answer out. "I'm a huge fan of the Detroit Phalanx back home. Probably didn't make mention of that."

At my stupid retort, the mood was broken and she laughed lightly. "If it weren't for the scars and everything I've read, I would never have guessed you for an N7. Or the Butcher of Torfan for that matter."

"Where in the book does it say idiots can't be extremely good at what they do?"

"Fair enough. If we're being completely in the open here, my superiors just needed me to do a check of your motives. Seeing as I had nothing to pin you down with and I didn't figure you were going to answer, I decided to have a bit of fun with it."

"I wouldn't be so quick. There actually might be something you can pin me down with, provided you get us the hell out of here and I come back alive."

My double entendre just caused her to smirk. As the silence filled the open space between us, I thought for a moment. I had already started to make moves earlier, why not keep the ball rolling. "If all you're here for is my little chats earlier, how about I propose a deal between the two of us?" My tone cut through the atmosphere.

Her eyes narrowed, but the smirk never left her face, "just what can IA and I do for you Mr. Wolfert?"

"You're probably not going to believe me right now but there is a huge storm coming and Saren is just the front of it from what I can tell." My vision of giant leviathans with red beams destroying everything resurfaced behind my eyes. "I'm going to need allies and a whole fuck-ton of contacts who can help me out. Ones that don't have Council restrictions placed over their head."

"Wow. Just what has gotten the infamous Butcher so scared?" The false sectary looked at me with a hint of concern.

I exhaled slowly. "I can't tell you the exact details and like I said, you wouldn't believe me right now anyway so it's rather pointless but here, take my contact information before my friends get back. I'd rather avoid the merciless teasing that would come with the sight of us exchanging numbers." I motioned for her to open her omni-tool. "Just…keep your ear to the ground as to what's happening with the Normandy and if you're interested contact me. We'll set up a time to discuss details."

She nodded thoughtfully before the IA agent's head whipped to the side. Her voice rose and she waved her hand over as we were now being rejoined by the rest of the team. "Your friend Mr. Wolfert here has quite the inflated view of his own worth."

"He's skilled at what he does." I raised my eyebrows as Caleb came to my defense, crossing his arms at the woman as he approached our seating area. "That allows for a bit of pride I would say."

"Thanks Shep." I gave him a thumbs-up and scooted over, allowing for just him to take a seat. Chelsea can go sit on Parasini's side if she wants to.

"How did it go with Qui'in? Did he agree to testify?"

Chelsea took her spot across from the table and her mouth spread wide, like a shark who'd just devoured a sea lion. "I was able to convince him to testify. Tali's got all the data stored on her omni-tool so she can transfer it over to you whenever."

"Let's just do it right now. I want to get this evidence somewhere safe as soon as possible so I can get the administrator out of here." In a manner of moments, the data was moved from one omni-tool to the other and Parasini's face absolutely lit up at seeing the files. "You know what, screw that. With what you just gave me, I can make the arrest right now."

"Congrats." I clapped lazily. "Does that mean we can finally get a garage pass and move the fuck on out of here?"

"That's exactly what it means." She slid her chair back from the table and beckoned us to follow. "Come on, I'll authorize the pass right from Anoleis' office after I've cuffed him."

"Heh. Almost makes all this pointless walking around worth it to see that slimy bastard get locked up."

I turned to Wrex. "Don't think I've ever agreed with you more big guy. That's the kind of wisdom you only get from centuries of galactic ass-kicking."

"You'll get there one day kid." He slapped me on the back and I almost fell on my face from the sheer force. "Of course, you humans don't live quite as long so you'll have to make up for it another way."

Apparently, that was really funny to him because he started laughing gutturally at his own joke. "Good one Wrex, laugh at the fact we can't live for hundreds of years like you guys. Really makes me feel all warm inside."

Speaking of feeling warm inside. I was getting nice and tingly from the scene in front of me.

"Unhand me right now!" The salarian administrator was squirming every which way, trying in vain to free himself from the metal shackles Parasini had put him in. "Shepard! You're a Spectre, do something!"

Chelsea just leaned forward and literally laughed in his face while Caleb played it just a bit more cool and leaned back, resting his arms across his chest-plate. At least, he looked relaxed to the outside world. The miniscule piece of tech now installed in my fake eye allowed me to see what was going on deep down. And from the heavy pulses of biotic energy flaring almost at random within his system, it was not pretty to say the least.

"Why on earth would I help you? You've done nothing but do your very best to be a thorn in the side of galactic safety since my team and I set foot on this frozen wasteland. If you were a decent person who just happened to be slightly spiteful, I might be inclined to help you in some way or another but you're honestly one of the most deplorable beings I've ever had the misfortune to come across. Not only do you have seemingly no redeeming personal traits, but you're stealing from the very clients you claim to protect so vigilantly. To cite a specific example on top of your stealing: Lorik Qui'in, an innocent businessman, was accosted by the security force you use as your own personal squad of ruffians and was forced to flee his own workspace out of fear for his safety."

The Lion of Elysium straightened his back and directed his icy grey eyes down at the flabbergasted criminal who had gone completely still at the composed and measured all-out verbal onslaught that was being perpetrated on his person. "So no. I'm not going to help you. It's actually just the opposite, I hope you rot in jail for a very long time. In fact, if there's anything I can do to aid that process without slowing down my own mission, I will certainly do so. Goodbye Administrator Anoleis. For your sake you had better hope that we never meet again."

Silence filled the room as no one was quite sure how to react until I just began to slowly clap. "Sir, let me just say I have never been more honored to be a part of this team. That was a true masterpiece."

The spell now broken, Parasini shoved her captive forward once again. "I agree with Wolfert here. I've had to put up with his shit for six months and only in my dreams have I been able to say that." The IA agent gave the six of us a nod. "I'll see you folks around, good luck at Peak Fifteen."

"Let's move. We've already wasted more than enough time in this God-forsaken port."

Without mention of the verbal tongue-lashing he had just given, the man set his head forward and strode determinedly towards the garage. Not that him doing that should have shocked me, he's still the same one-track minded dude after all. I just didn't realize that he was also capable of shredding a person's soul with his words to go along with the rest of the package.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side Shepard."

He turned towards the quarian girl and just like that, he was our normal commander again. "I don't think you could ever get on my bad side Tali. I'm just not a fan of…people like him."

"You did make that fairly clear in your diatribe, yes." The shy asari archeologist added on. "Even for someone like myself."

"Bro's always been that way." Chelsea sidled up and threw her arm around the man, keeping her other situated on the grip of one of her SMG's. "He can take a whole lot of abuse as long as you don't get in his way…God help you if you do though. That was actually a pretty light one, we've only been here for a short while so with more prep time he could have done better without a doubt."

Caleb winced at the armored forearm around his neck before removing it. I took the opportunity and flanked him on the other side. "I yell at a lot of people-"

"I'm still pissed at you for the office thing by the way." Chelsea stuck her head past her younger twin to glare at me.

"Sure, yeah, whatever." I waved her off which definitely wasn't the smartest thing to do but I was still feeling a little raw myself. The wonderful thing we had just witnessed certainly helped but deep down, I still felt slighted and I can carry a grudge like nobody's fucking business when I really want to. "Like I was saying, I yell at a lot of people but I have more of the, 'hurl vulgar insults and imply incoming violence,' style. That was just an even-toned, well-reasoned beatdown."

"I was far from tranquil, trust me." He still looked dead ahead but I could see the seriousness in his expression. And while I knew what he was saying was completely true, I couldn't say anything because my Eezo Vision being brought up would raise some uncomfortable questions about just who developed the piece of hardware for me.

"Does this mean we can finally get out of this hellhole?" The pleasure at seeing the salarian carted off had evidently already warn off for the hulking battlemaster. Now it was time for action again apparently.

"Yes Wrex, that's exactly what it means." Chelsea grinned madly and started to break out at an almost-jog. "Keep up bitches, it's time to move."

"Chelsea…don't get ahead of yourself." Her brother's warning words drifted over the team channel although they fell on deaf ears as the woman didn't slow one bit. In fact, I think she might have picked up the pace a bit.

It only took a couple minutes to reach the destination that we had been trying to access this whole damn time. Only a rifle-wielding guard stood in the way now.

"I apologize but access to the garage is closed off for the time being."

Caleb stepped forward and showed off the most valuable possession on this entire miserable ice-ball of a planet, a garage pass. "We're authorized to pass."

She scrutinized it carefully, eyes squinting from the effort. "Yes that is the genuine article. You may proceed." She stepped to the side and pushed a button on the bright red panel next to her. "The Aleutsk Valley is supposed to be having terrible storms right now, drive carefully. The roads are well-marked but still, we have had accidents in the past from people who have pressed their luck."

While the rest of the team was thanking her for the words of caution, I was just inwardly crying at the fact that all it took was the press of a button. One little finger push and all this shit could have been avoided.

"I could have just stormed this whole place…their entire security was contingent on a damn switch. No ID scanners, nothing. A fucking. Button. It all could have been so simple. One little biotic charge, an unconscious guard or five and we're on our way."

"Wolfert…please don't air out your plans for attacking the security over the comms channel." My commander sighed loudly into his helmet's mouthpiece. He seemed to do that a lot. "At least have the decency to keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself."

"Strange, I would have thought that living with your sister for your entire life would have accustomed you more to seemingly random violent outbursts."

The N7 woman barked loudly in laughter. "He still likes to bitch and moan about it Liara, that won't change."

A mechanical whirring interrupted our little chat as we entered the garage and I gave a loud, joyous shout as one of the geth that I lovingly labeled, "jumpy fucks," sprung up to the ceiling. It fired off a blast from a sniper rifle once it reached the top but I had already extended my bio-cade to cover my teammates so the shot did nothing but drain my reserves a little bit.

"Fan out!"

Caleb snapped into focus as he took in the situation in front of us. The room was long and rather narrow with the only cover being a couple skinny stone pillars, what appeared to be a decrepit M29 Grizzly…shit but it's been awhile since I've seen one of those old girls and the now-open crates we were behind that had apparently been housing geth. Fuckers did a great job. We catch shit for trying to bring our guns with us but apparently, matriarchs get to bring a whole army along with them. Man, fuck this place.

"I'm taking Liara with me up the right flank for bio-support!"

"Roger that, I'll take Tali with me left for tech." Caleb nodded at the two of us close-quarters specialists. "You two get in there and do what you do best. I've learned less is more when it comes to the details sometimes. Especially with you two."

"Hell yeah, that's what I like to hear." I clapped Wrex on the back as we peeked out from cover to face the robot forces in front of us.

"A destroyer just cloaked, keep your eyes peeled."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the barrel of my newest plaything poking above my back. I think the situation calls for it. "Bossman can you drop a singularity in on those three troopers? I wanna try something."

"I don't like the sound of that."

Despite his misgivings, I heard a grunt of effort as a flashing blue-purple orb crashed into their backlines. It wasn't long before a trio of silver droids were rotating around the object, caught in the fierce gravitational pull.

"EMP round incoming." Taking one of the appropriately labeled tubes off a ring slotted for it, I slammed it home into the grenade launcher and aimed. The combat program in my systems went into overtime as I aimed the M-100, figuring out the trajectory on the fly as my hands shifted. "Good enough."

Depressing the trigger oh so gently, I watched as the bird of prey that I had just launched swooped in on the helpless geth. A flash of bright lights and pulsating electronics lit up the garage as it reached its destination and with it, the lights on the geth's flashbulb eyes went out.

"Boo. I was hoping for a bigger explosion." The female commander made her displeasure known over the comms as she ripped apart a geth with her machine gun.

"Everyone's a fuckin' critic." I tucked the weapon against my back, fastening it against the metallic strip and pulled my pistol. "Next time I'll use a frag or incendiary then just so you're happy."

"Thank you."

Luckily, I wasn't so distracted to not notice the shimmer to my side. Years of working alongside an N7 Infiltrator payed off as I ducked the shotgun blast aimed that landed where my head was a split-second earlier, going to one knee to avoid the blow.

I pulled my pistol and fired off a quick three shots from it that did nothing but tickle the destroyer's shield. Yanking my kukri knife from its sheath, I moved to slice at the machine's vital exposed wires. As I moved upwards though, a swinging metal fist slammed into my neck and in one motion threw me backwards into what had previously been a safe haven.

The machine leveled its shotgun once again and all I could do was cough and splutter, all the air cut off from the blow. I was in the middle of apologizing for everything I had ever done wrong when the geth seemingly tripped and stumbled forward as almost simultaneously, a blur of red struck it square in the chest.

Triumphant krogan bellowing filled the hangar and I could only watch in fascinated glee as Urdnot Wrex pumped three shots into the now sparking machine before dropping his weapon to grab it by the head. More war screams echoed as the mountain of a being used one hand to pull upwards on the geth's neck and the other to separate the thing's head from the rest of its body.

What I was trying to say was something along the lines of, "thanks for the assist," but all that came out was a strangled gasping. Not that Wrex minded one bit, even through his helmet's visor I could see the bloodthirsty grin that spread from cheek to cheek as he threw the robot's head to the ground, stomping it out with an armored boot just for good measure.

"Heh. Never seen you so speechless before Wolf."

Since vocalizing wasn't an option, I opted to extend my middle finger before pulling out my Lancer and peeking out to survey the rest of the battle. The first thing I noticed was Chelsea had found her way to the Grizzly tank which apparently still had a functioning turret at the least as she ripped apart a duo of geth troopers armed with rocket launchers that were trying to separate her from her new toy. Bad idea. The feminine laughter that was ringing through my earpiece was a little disconcerting to say the least.

Liara had tucked both her SMG and pistol on her belt and was supporting her female boss by ensnaring any geth she could. As I watched, a lift orb flew from her hand and curved around a pillar, sending one more skyward only to be ripped apart by the mounted machine gun the commander was perched behind.

A silver glint caught my eye and I fired controlled bursts from my Lancer at it, making sure that the geth was pinned down. In the shape I was in I couldn't be the finisher I usually was but I could at least make things easier for my teammates by attempting to control the flow of battle.

"Cryo blast out."

I turned for a brief moment to see that Tali and Caleb were working in tandem on the other side of the room, bringing down another destroyer between the two of them. Tali snap-froze it with a directed spray of super-cooled subatomic particles that halted the shotgun-wielding robot in its tracks, after which the Lion of Elyisum shattered the frozen bot with repeated shots from his pistol. Guess he decided to give the biotics a little rest for once.

Since the rest of the team had it under control, I turned to Wrex who had been staying nearby, checking any potential onslaught but not overextending. Aww, the big guy must be worried about me.

I fired one more burst in the general direction of the geth and signaled to my krogan partner. "So you're still able to fight?"

Shaking my head vehemently, I moved my gun up and started to blast away, letting my actions do the talking for once. "Go." That was all I managed to croak out but apparently it was enough to convince him as the krogan took off towards the spot I had just been aiming for.

Sighting up, I let loose a tight barrage at the corner I had last seen the robot, only stopping when Wrex was getting dangerously close to being in my line of fire. Trusting that he could handle himself, I turned towards a sniper on the far wall who appeared to be scoping in on Chelsea.

"Was that Wolf?"

The commander's voice blared out over the harsh pounding of the weapon she was wielding. Since I couldn't really answer at the moment, I occupied myself with forcing the sharpshooter into cover since that was all I really could do. The Mattock would be nice right about now.

Four bullets flew from my rifle as I gently depressed the trigger and the large metal crate that the geth's rifle had been resting on pinged with the sounds of bullets impacting on steel. Making sure to monitor heat levels, I kept up my assault on the robot. At this range, only one or two bullets out of each burst were actually dangerous but it was more than enough to start depleting it's shield levels and force it to hide so they could recharge.

"It did sound rather like him but I would assume that he would have responded considering his personality." Liara was the next to answer and I continued to stare down the rails of my weapon…this was driving me crazy.

"Wolfert respond, are you injured?"

Thankfully, a gruff voice answered Commander Shepard in my stead. "Wolf's fine. One of those geth with the cloaking shields caught him in the throat with a punch so he can't really talk."

Loud laughter from Chelsea, punctuated by the continued sounds of gunfire responded to the krogan. "Seriously? Wolf can't talk? This is a rare opportunity for some silence, if it weren't for this fight right now it would actually be peaceful for once."

Tali giggled…the traitor, and I had finally had taken enough flak. "Charg-" I coughed loudly which only caused a new chorus of laughter from the ladies to sound out. "Fuck it."

Crouching low, I phased through the entire garage in the blink of an eye. The geth reacted to my sudden appearance by calmly rotating one-hundred eighty degrees and firing with its massive sniper, my head only being saved from perforation by swiping upwards at the barrel with my left hand, striking it with an open palm and then holding firm afterwards.

As the single shot dented the ceiling, I channeled a steady warp into my hands and melted away the weapon's capacity to fire again in an instant. While the sniper dropped the weapon and moved towards the rifle on its back, I didn't bother with any weapon other than my biotics. While the geth moved with robotic precision, I had the trained movements that I had performed hundreds if not thousands of times going for me. In one movement, my omni-blade unsheathed and I stabbed forwards.

I plunged it first into the geth's arm, retarding its ability to pull its weapon on me. Following that up, I gave a grunt of effort as I yanked back and then buried the flash-forged weapon deep into the optics of the sniper. Despite it's wounds, the droid in front of me spasmed as it went through its final death throes. At least until I ended things by pulling out my M11 and firing two shots straight through the chest that must have hit enough vital processes to put the thing down for good.

"Any other enemies in your immediate vicinity Wolf?" I answered my CO by giving a double-click over the channel, indicating a no. "Good, then it appears we've cleared the area. Let's move out to that Mako near the door, it seems to be in good condition."

At least, that was the plan. As I tore off my mask and rubbed my sore neck, a loud voice interrupted our attempted exit. "Commander, what happened here? I heard shooting."

Chelsea was the first to turn around and face the guard captain Matsuo. "What happened here is whoever inspected these crates is either completely incompetent or got paid off. Since spotting a fucking geth should be fairly easy, I'm guessing it was the latter."

"What my co-commander means to say is that upon entering this garage we were attacked by the geth. We fought them back successfully as you can see, and now we would like to be moving on to Peak Fifteen as we intended to upon our arrival here."

"Geth…" The officer shook her head as she surveyed the machine parts strewn liberally across the room courtesy of the Normandy ground team. "There could be dozens of those things crawling all over the place. The matriarch brought a rather large shipment with her."

"Well all the more reason for us to get moving then." Wrex chimed in.

"Yes you're free to go, I did not intend to hold you up any longer." She spun on her heel, omni-tool opening as she muttered to herself. "I'll need to report this to my superiors. If word of geth roaming free around Noveria gets to investors, it could cause a panic." She twisted her neck backwards to regard us. "Please commander, I know I haven't exactly done anything to garner a favor from you but if you could keep this under wraps for now, it would be greatly appreciated."

"You have until we get back from the research facility." Caleb almost grunted out. "After that, we need to report in to the Council and all bets are off."

"Don't worry though!" His older twin chimed in cheerfully. "We're gonna kill them all anyway so it's not like they're going to be an issue for you anymore by the time we get back."

"How reassuring."

And just like that we were left alone again. The six of us and a bunch of broken machines.

"Mako time!" Going into a full sprint, Chelsea Shepard flew towards the vehicle and threw the doors wide. "I call turret!" 

"Driver." The commander turned towards Tali. "Which means you're on electronics duty and you can help me navigate Wrex."

Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. At least there was no chance of being crushed by an armored krogan being shifted by the forces of gravity. No I only had to deal with sitting next to a girl just out of her teens, for her species at least, who was facing down the prospect of having to fight her own mother. Oh yeah and l still can barely talk too. Because that won't make things any more awkward.

"Nice lift." That was all I managed to croak out to my asari seatmate before a coughing fit seized me. "Good curve."

"Thank you." She inclined her head ever so slightly at the compliment. "My former instructor made sure that I was able to properly arc my attacks. She said it was sometimes the difference between life and death, the ability to trap an opponent who thinks they are safe behind a wall."

"Smart." I gave an approving nod. Benezia certainly didn't spare any expense seemingly with whoever she hired to teach her kid. She still wasn't a great shot, but powerful biotics paired with excellent control of them had a funny way of overcoming things like that.

That was all the time we had to talk because the winding, snow-covered road we were currently on quickly lit up with small-arms fire and the occasional rocket blast. As if driving on the side of an unbarricaded mountain wasn't challenging enough.

"More geth!" Chelsea yelled absentmindedly, fully engaged in the prospect of lining up the weapon she was operating.

"And a turret." Our quarian engineer added. "Shields are still holding solid at seventy percent but that initial burst took a decent chunk out of them."

"Keep diverting whatever non-essential power you can to them." Our leader swore under his breath. "With roads this thin and slippery, my maneuverability is low. We're going to have to tank some damage here."

As soon as he mentioned diverting power, the lights inside of the Mako went dark. The only illumination coming in now was the bit of natural stuff that had fought its way through the harsh blizzard that was currently kicking up in full-force.

Helpless to do a damn thing, my only course of action was to stare out the windows as we passed underneath the dark entrance to a tunnel. "Swerve right, I don't have a shot." As Chelsea spoke, I caught a glimpse of the cannon booming out and creating a small crater, the aftereffects of the shot also sending a couple geth flying off the side to a long fall.

"Why do I never get to do anything?" I managed to croak out, my voice finally returning to the point I could move past caveman-speech.

"Because me and Caleb are your bosses so we get first picks, Tali is better with tech which rules you out there and you can't talk right now so that eliminates you as a potential co-pilot." My female commander paused for a split-second in her barrage to look back at me and grin. "Plus it's fun to watch you grimace every time the boosters activate or we take a hard turn."

"First off, fuck you." The hard, "F," sound threw me into another coughing fit which caused another giggle from the ungrateful quarian girl whose ass I had saved back on the Citadel. I gave her a warning point, electing to choose my word usage carefully, before returning to the main object of my ire. At least I could talk in complete sentences now though. "Secondly, I could talk just fine every other time and you've still stuck me on seat duty."

"Why would you want to be co-pilot anyway?" The krogan in the passenger seat grumbled. "You don't get to shoot anything, the only plus is the front-row seat as the rockets fly towards you."

"At least that's something."

"Armature, eleven o'clock." Caleb interrupted the banter to make sure business was attended to for at least one second.

I made an elaborate show of checking all my belt buckles and securing myself in. "Can we not ram this one? Falling off a mountain is about as bad as lava, the only plus side is we'd be dead instantly."

"I'll see what I can do for you Wolf."

My eyebrows raised. An actual bit of battle chat from the man himself was a rare occurrence. Although Liara had to go and interrupt things. "I do believe that with the temperatures on Therum, if you had fallen into lava you also would have been deceased instantly thanks to the heat."

"I don't need your facts and logic right now Liara."

An annoyed grunt emanated from the gunner's seat. "Weren't you busy being halfway strangled by a geth? I wish we could go back to ten minutes ago when you coughed every other word."

"But who would provide the witty commentary if that was the case?" I looked to Liara for support but she only grinned shyly.

"No one. That's the point." She let a pleased grunt out as she slammed heavy machine gun rounds into another geth. "And I would actually get to savor the feeling of mowing down robots without having to listen to the backtrack of a smartass Earthborn."

"You're just jealous…space kid." I glanced over to Tali. "No offense."

"It's fine, I couldn't hear you over the sound of me trying to do my job and keep us all alive."

Speaking of keeping us alive, the whole Mako shook as an explosion tipped our right wheels airborne. "Shepard…"

Wrex grunted out a warning which the commander tersely responded to. "I know, I see the bastard."

I just closed my eyes and leaned back, letting the sounds of combat wash over me. "Wake me up when we get there. Or if we all die."

"Can do. Enjoy the nap."

Never fully drifting off into the land of the unconscious, I kind of hovered in a trance and just waited. This is why I hate tanks. And shuttles. And being in space. And really just any situation that I don't have control of my own life expectancy. If I'm going to die, I'd like to at least be responsible for at or have some measure of being able to fight against it to the bitter end. This is just torture.

With nothing better to do, I turned to the info that I had received from that asari back in the bar, Callis or whatever. She did promise floor plans, passwords and all that good shit in exchange for helping her hack the salesman from BH. It only took a moment to open the data file from her and my grin grew large at seeing that she had followed through on her promise. All of it was there and for once there were no strings attached.

My analysis of the data was only interrupted by my Recon Hood being yanked up, forcing my head skyward so I could look directly into the eyes of Chelsea Shepard. "Hey asshat! Wake up and wipe off that goofy grin. We're here."

Pulling the intruding hand off my face, I quickly forwarded the data on to my companions as we stepped into a dark, dimly lit garage with the only lamps being a dull red. Not the most welcoming entrance I've ever seen.

"Wolf…is this what I think it is?" The leader of our little team threw a hesitant question my way. At my nod, he just shook his head and covered his visor with the palm of his hand. "Well however you came by it, this will come in handy if this place is as much of a maze as it appears to be." A little pause came and the man inhaled loudly. "Just answer me this, how many laws did you break to have to get this and who am I going to need to defend you from?"

"Technically… **I** didn't break any laws." I stressed the, "I," in that sentence. "Well, I mean unless you count aiding and abetting as breaking a law but that's more of a technicality in my opinion."

"It's really not Wolf."

"Eh, we're not in Council space anyways. Plus you two are Spectres, I know Chelsea won't pardon me," she gave an emphatic, "hell no," "but I figure you've got my back Shep. Besides, if this goes well, you won't have to protect me from anybody because they'll all either be dead or in my back pocket. So don't worry yourself one bit Commander Shepard, sir."

"And somehow I'm not reassured at all. You frighten me Wolf."

I just grinned broadly. "Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment sir."

Cautiously, we made our way through the garage. So far, no sounds of any kind had been made and we hadn't been challenged by any guards which is extremely disconcerting. The flaming Mako out front didn't speak well of things either.

" _User alert. All Peak Fifteen facilities have suffered a great deal of damage. Biohazard materials present throughout facility. Virtual Intelligence user interface offline."_

The monotone sounds of a digitally programmed voice broke the stillness. At least that is until Liara made us aware of another little problem. "Spirits! Commanders you might want to see this."

All six of us gathered around the body of a fallen krogan. Ordinarily that wouldn't have been so odd except for the fist-sized puncture wounds that marred his body and the fact that he was missing an arm. I gave a quick glance to make sure there weren't any more ambushers in our immediate vicinity and for the first time, I noticed the robotic parts that littered the floor in patches. Someone or something had torn its way through here and they had not been happy.

To the backdrop of the digital voice repeating its same message, I spoke in a worried tone. "Guys…why do I feel like we've just stumbled into a horror movie?"

 **A/N: So we're finally at Peak 15 and Wolf is continuing to lay the groundwork for…something apparently. There's going to be a lot of plot threads that are dangling around in ME1 that won't come to fruition immediately so hopefully I'm able to do justice to the grander scheme RSC and I have come up with.**

 **Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for continuing to proofread my mediocre writings and be the other half of the brainstorming sessions.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **RSC: I'm with you man, the lack of power wheel and being able to reliably set up combos with your squaddies kinda sucks.**

 **Dekuton: I'm definitely thinking about making some alterations to how Wolf utilizes the Bio-Cade. Not sure yet if he's going to be able to reflect bullets back or not but definitely keep an eye out for it becoming more versatile in what he can do with it.**

 **Ronnambi: I've definitely been thinking about incorporating some of the Andromeda characters but I'm just not quite sure yet of the who/when/where/why of it just yet. There'll almost assuredly be at least a quick cameo though if you're keeping an eye out.**

 **Blaze1992: Yep, for once Wolf lets someone live although if he had his choice it would have gone down differently.**

 **Coduss: Hahaha, for the sake of inflating my own ego I'm going to pretend that someone in Bioware has any clue about this story and that the Bio-Cade was the inspiration. To be honest though it's not that original of an idea, it's basically just the concept of extending a barrier out from a biotic to the point where it becomes a wall.**

 **JMA: Thanks! And that ability you mentioned might just happen to be something Wolf learns in the coming months ;)**

 **Mhans103: I've thought about him learning something similar to the Beam ability that was in ME3 multiplayer but I don't think Wolf has that level of preciseness with his biotics. He's more of a brute powerhouse than a technical fighter but maybe a more levelheaded biotic who happens to be his CO could pick something like that up…just throwing that out there.**


	25. You'll Never See It Coming

"I'm telling you guys this is straight out of a horror vid, just look at the whole situation."

We were finally at Peak Fifteen and things were looking fucked to put it delicately. The garage we entered had been left partially open, as a still-burning Mako blocked the overhead door from closing completely. Now that we were in, the eerie combination of dim, blood-red lights, a repeating VI blasting across the intercom and mutilated corpses greeted us. Oh yeah and not only were the geth and krogan that littered the floor punctured with gaping wounds, some of the geth appeared to have been corroded, so whatever attacked them apparently has the ability to melt metal.

"Wolf, shut the hell up and keep your eyes and ears open for whoever or whatever did this."

Oh yeah, almost forgot Chelsea was still pissed off at me thanks to our little spat back in the Synthetics Insights office which was definitely the scariest and most annoying part of this live reenactment of a horror film…hopefully I'm not the first one to die.

"I can't help it. When I'm nervous like this, words just come out. It's like I have no control over what I'm saying. If I don't keep filling the air with meaningless chatter then I'll have to think about the specifics, and I'd rather not let my imagination fill in the blanks of what could have done this." My boot flipped over a biotic geth and I grimaced at the charred marks that had eaten their way through its chest. "If Woley were here he'd make some obscure pop-culture reference to some old Earth shit but I'm stuck with the vague one."

"For the love of God Wolf."

The younger twin interrupted his sister. "It's fine Chelsea, I gave Wolf free reign to talk away so just let him do his thing. If it makes you feel better you can mute his feed until I say otherwise."

"Thank you."

"Is it kind of weird that I can never get along with both Sheps at once? Either I'm on Caleb's good side or Chelsea's but never both? I mean, in the beginning of this epic space adventure, Chels had my back and now it seems like Caleb has been by my side more often than not. Maybe I'm rubbing off on him." Musing to myself, I kept up my scan of the garage, pistol in one hand and other ready to launch a biotic attack at the first sign of trouble.

The direct line to the Normandy fired up and the voice of our wisecracking pilot drifted through the static. "Alien."

"What was that Joker? You're breaking up." The commander halted dead in his tracks and his hand went to the earpiece on his helmet as if that would help in some way.

"That's the reference Wolf was looking for, the Alien series. A team of assorted badasses goes to investigate a ship that's sent out a distress signal, which then lets a razor-tailed death machine onto their own craft. Then it starts picking them off one-by-one. Think they even had a remake of the first one thirty years ago or so but the press didn't like it since it didn't showcase the idea of peaceful first contact." There was a long pause as everybody just kind of took in the fact that that's what he had interrupted us for. "It's not a one-to-one comparison but the similarities are there. You're going to investigate a research facility that's gone dark for a few days now, the atmosphere is super creepy and apparently there's some kind of bad shit going down. That's close enough for me to be really happy to be here sitting in my comfy chair and not down there with you guys having to deal with xenomorphs."

"Joker…"

"Shutting up." He responded to the commander's single-word threat. "Last bits of advice. Don't let it bleed on you, stay away from anything that looks like an egg, splitting up to investigate is always a bad idea and lastly, watch out for the vents… They always like to use that shit to move undetected and then, wham! You've got a face full of double-jaws ripping your throat out."

"Is that everything?" The commander's weary tone of voice was contradicted by the small smirk that could be seen through his visor.

"Last thing. If one of you has to go out, please yell, 'game over man!' But seriously, just be careful not to bring anything back with you on the Normandy. I would hate to see my baby become the future nest for an alien queen."

"Your concern is noted."

As the communication between us and the ship ceased, Liara cocked her head in clear confusion. "I am afraid that although the words Flight Lieutenant Moreau was speaking were understandable, they did not make any sense to me. No existing race that I am aware of still has something as archaic as a, 'queen,' ruling over their entire species. Although it would be fascinating to do an in-depth study if they did."

"I didn't get it either Liara so you're not alone." Tali backed up the other female non-human in the group.

"Your human vids sound interesting."

I should have figured that something like that would appeal to Wrex. Tough old bastard would probably find some way to make sure that whatever the subject was it wasn't nearly as tough-sounding as just having to survive daily life on Tuchanka, no matter how horrifying.

"Alright. Now that's out of the way, let me take a look at this data Wolf got for us." A digital display sprang to life from his omni-tool and he studied it for seemingly two seconds before coming up with our next move. "Alright, we can get to the main facilities using that stairwell on the left. I want a tight cluster as we move, back to back so nothing comes up from behind us."

"I'll take lead with Wrex." Chelsea volunteered.

"That's fine. Liara and I will be able to control flanks with our biotics which leaves Wolf and Tali as the rearguard." Why me? I'm going to have to put my back to everything and just walk backwards as we go through this fucking place which definitely sounds like my idea of a good time. "Let's move."

I flicked on my thermal vision just as I heard the sound of movement behind a stack of crates. "Possible contact to my left."

"Move in, we're with you Wolf."

I could've sworn I heard the skittering of multiple legs but as I rounded the cover, my heat imagining didn't reveal a damn thing. "You guys heard that too right? I swear I'm not losing my mind."

Wrex was the only one to back me up as the rest of the team shook their head no. "Yeah I heard something." He took his helmet off and started to sniff the air. "I can't pick out scents with all the dead krogan and geth fluid everywhere. I'll keep this off going forward though. Maybe I'll pick something up that I recognize."

"Roger that."

We finally made our way up the stairs and started to move through the facility. The curving walls, flickering lights and random puffs of steam that jetted from the ground did nothing to ease the tension that was in the air.

"Gun turrets up ahead. Deactivated though so we're good for now." Chelsea warned.

"I do not presume to be a military expert but these seem to be facing the wrong way." Liara mused.

"Unless they were less concerned about keeping other people out and more worried about containing whatever's in there inside." I practically moaned. This was looking more and more like a movie every second and I was hating it. "If you look at it from that point of view then it makes total sense."

"Why do you have to assume the worst Wolf?" Tali jabbed me with her pointed elbow from her position next to me.

"Or they could just have a problem with a mass mutiny from employees." Caleb tried to offer some alternative explanation.

"So they either really do have something holed up in there that now seems to be loose judging from that massacre back there or they're the worst employers ever." Wrex grunted sarcastically. "Great options Shepard."

"Regardless of what it is, we need to be on our guard." Caleb motioned to get back into formation as we passed the inactive machine gun emplacements.

"Elevator to the left." Of course there's an elevator, why wouldn't there be. "Checking out this room to the right here."

As Chelsea led the way with Wrex at her side, trailed slightly by Liara and Caleb who both were already alive with biotic energy just in case, me and Tali took up the rear. While they explored what appeared to function as a security station, the two of us swiveled to face the hallway we had just come from.

I took a knee, cradling my shotgun as I kept watch. This silence was driving me crazy. I'm not going to lie either, the sheer unknown of the situation was making me more tense than usual. If I had a choice, I would have taken a fight with an asari commando over slowly trekking our way through the creepy research facility while some mysterious enemy was out there. My mental databanks were whirring with what could have possibly even done that kind of damage but nothing was coming to mind…unless miniature thresher maws are a thing.

"Hey." As I came out of my trance, Tali's hand was resting on my arm. "It'll be fine, we're going to figure this whole thing out and capture Benezia too."

"You're eerily good at knowing what's going on upstairs with me you know that?"

"It's not that tough. You're just really easy to read, for me at least. I don't know if the rest of the team picks up on your body language but if you know what to look for it's rather simple." Bright eyes shone back at me from behind the young woman's purple-tinted visor. "Don't worry though, your dark secret's safe with me."

Oh if only you knew. I wish the fact that I felt like a kid who was terrified of the monsters in the shadows was my deepest secret right now. "If you ever learned how to blackmail people you'd be terrifying, you know that?"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

We were rejoined by the rest of our team whose search had apparently been fruitless. At least, judging from the scowl on Chelsea's face. "Nothing." She slugged me in the shoulder as she retook the lead position. "And I've got some good news Wolf, I don't think you're insane anymore. There's something out there and it's keeping tabs on us. Multiple somethings if I had to guess."

All six of us filed into the lift and it didn't take long for us to start our ascent. "You heard it too then?"

"We all did." Caleb responded in her stead as Chelsea seemed to be thinking about something now. "It sounded like movement in the vents."

"Worst part of that is Joker's right about something."

I tried to laugh it off but my joke fell on unhearing ears. Instead an eerie silence took up residence as the doors in front of us opened. "Watch every corner. If it can fit in the vents, there's not too many places it can't hide."

Fuck me. Why does the commander have to say shit like that? It makes it so much worse than it only being in my head.

As we finally reached the top, a loud, animalistic screech followed by gunfire broke the silence.

"Chelsea move up and investigate. Take it slow."

"Yeah yeah."

The six of us continued our measured walk through the now icy corridors. It was impossible to say if things had already gone so wrong here that the snow was retaking control or if they just designed it that way but the fact that it wasn't a gloomy grey wall already made me feel a bit better. Well, it would have if some nightmare wasn't waiting for us on the other end of this door I should say so that judgement will have to wait for the reveal.

As the panels opened in front of us, I spun from my rearguard position and saw a lone geth in its final throes. Its companions had already been taken apart or corroded in much the same manner we had seen downstairs, but this one was just holding on despite the fact that one of its legs was gone and half of its head was missing.

"Fuck." Chelsea swore loudly as she pulled out her shotgun and put the thing down for good. Three blasts probably wasn't necessary but I don't think anybody blamed her for venting a little bit. "Nothing's here. Again."

"Keep moving. Around this corner and up the stairs according to the schematics Wolf…acquired for us." I could practically hear the commander wince just thinking of my methods.

The snow-covered floor crunched underneath our armored boots as we proceeded into a glass-encased walkway. One more high-pitched squeal announced our arrival but again, no enemy made themselves known.

"Fuck come out here and show yourself!" Chelsea practically spat out the words before muttering in a much lower tone of voice. "I swear, if these bastards are trying to make me go insane from the paranoia they're doing a damn good job of it."

"Relax boss, no need to jump at ghosts just yet. Haven't met anything yet that can stand up to a good old-fashioned krogan headbutt."

That got a light chuckle from the group that only served to illustrate just how on edge everyone was. The laughter from us all was almost eager, as if it would keep whatever horror lurked around the corner at bay.

"Keep moving through this tunnel." Our leader pointed straight ahead with an emphatic gesture. "The elevator at the end here should take us right to the emergency backup generators. Once we get those running we should theoretically have access to the rest of the station here."

I didn't even grumble about the elevator, it just felt wrong right now. As I backpedaled slowly, the quarian girl beside me keeping step all the way, it was impossible to tell whether the noises were real or if I was just imagining shit at this point. The passage of time felt meaningless, every second was a stress-filled minute that only served to put you further on edge.

"Goddamn it." I muttered under my breath, only for Tali to give me a sideways glance. "Sorry, I just hate this."

"I don't like it either but there's nothing we can do right now."

"Yeah I know, that's why I hate this. Some shortcut to Benezia would be nice right about now."

Trusting in my teammates to guide me, I didn't turn to face the same direction as them until Liara was kind enough to give me a warning. "You are about to back into the side of the elevator Nathan."

"Right."

I tucked my pistol onto my belt and pulled out my shotgun as we ascended through the murky darkness, the only light coming from the eerie red bulbs that seemed to be the only thing to survive the power issues this place was having. Well I guess the eerie VI on repeat made it through alright too…could have done without that if I'm being honest.

God I'm on fucking edge right now. I leaned back against the elevator wall and sorted through my omni-tool to the music section, thinking back to the tune my old squadmate Ben would play. For a song called, "Killing in the Name Of," it had an odd way of getting me calm and battle-focused which was definitely what I needed right now.

A loud beep interrupted my zoning out and I looked down to see a message from the commander. _"Are you listening to something right now?"_

I just nodded slowly as I lazily typed back. _"It helps my nerves."_

" _Hey whatever works. Just keep one eye on me for a signal if anything mission-critical comes up."_

Giving a quick affirmative response, I tried my best in the crowded elevator to soothe my frazzled nerves. I was only able to get through half the song before the commander made a slashing motion across his throat, signaling to kill the tunes. Guess it's time to go back to work.

As the doors opened in front of us, we retook our respective positions. Chelsea and Wrex led the way up front and Liara and Caleb provided biotics from the flanks, which left me and the engineer to backpedal our way through the long, narrow room once again.

The scrambling footsteps were everywhere now as the noise came to an almost roaring crescendo compared to the silence from the squad. It was underneath us. It was above us. It was in the fucking walls for God sake.

We were trapped.

As I spared a quick glance over my shoulder, I saw that the Lion of Elysium was studying the floor layout intensely. It was as if he was trying to memorize every last detail, not knowing if or when he'd have the chance to look again. I was in the process of losing my mind when he seemed to come to a decision, his head bobbing resolutely.

That was when two things happened.

The first was Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard giving the loudest, most authoritative yell I had ever heard. And the second was an almost otherworldly shriek that preceded the loud clanging of metal as vents burst in from every direction, as if a hundred bombs had gone off at once.

"Fucking get ready!" The commander swore uncharacteristically.

All at once, the dark room was lit up by the blasts of gunfire. Through the thermal lenses of my Recon Hood I got an eerily clear glimpse of the monsters that had been plaguing us. Bug-looking things as big as your foot skittered across the floor towards us at a breakneck pace. They were so clustered they were almost more of a single mass than any distinguishable entity. Well at least until they were shot that is, then they exploded with a sizzle of goo that did not speak well for anyone they were to touch. Behind them were the apparent culprits of the noise and for the second time in weeks I saw a species that were supposed to be extinct.

Rachni. My thought was confirmed a second later by a bellowing scream from the member of Clan Urdnot, his ancient enemy now standing in front of him.

This time they weren't frozen though. The fuckers were as big as a Great Dane and with pincer-like claws that proved they could punch through a geth at the very least, and acid-spitting tentacles to boot I almost found myself wishing for the darkness again. At least that they were immobile like that one in the crate. Now I had a good guess where Cerberus was getting their research subjects from at least though.

"Front facing Bio-Cade now!"

Stowing my shotgun, I did a one-eighty and thrust both palms forward. Deadly streams of acid were impeded for just long enough before I had to drop the barricade, the effort alone already causing me to grunt heavily.

Indiscriminately firing at the mass of bugs on the floor, I waited for further orders. This was an unknown enemy. Pirates and geth I could deal with by charging in and blasting with a shotgun or biotics but I wasn't looking to come out of a charge only to find a hole in my chest.

"The VI core is on the other side of the room." Caleb's palm lit up and he hurled a Singularity into the mass of unending creatures and Liara detonated the biotic combo a second later but it did almost nothing to stem the flow as we inched our way through the room. It was like fighting water. The second you displaced it, even more rushed to take its place. Right now the six of us were an island in a sea of rachni. "We need a tech expert to get down there and activate the power."

"Keelah." Tali muttered under her breath as she flicked her wrist outward, activating an incinerate module that threw a fireball at the ground behind us. We were still back to back with Liara and Caleb swiveling forwards and backwards as needed and the quarian woman's attack gave us back-liners a little bit of breathing room. "I guess that means me?"

"Nailed it in one Buttercup." Chelsea cursed loudly as acid splashed at her feet and corroded away a bit of her leg armor in a matter of seconds. The culprit didn't live long enough to admire the damage done however as the attention of her N7 Typhoon was quickly drawn to the attacker and a stream of bullets ripped it apart in a hissing display of green blood. "These things are fucking persistent."

"They certainly do not seem to have intentions of ceasing their attack." Liara mused.

I don't know how the fuck she can be so calm when we're getting fucking surrounded right now by a seemingly innumerable enemy. It was all Tali and I could collectively do to keep these fuckers at bay as we continued our slow walk to the core.

My finger jammed the trigger a half-dozen times at one of the big rachni but that only pissed the thing off if its screeching was any indication. It's response was to come even closer and it was all I could do to erect a barricade just larger than my hands that stopped the thing's claws a half-foot from my chest.

"Tali, please do something! Kinda tied up here…" Was all I managed to grunt out.

The purple shimmer that was extended just in front of my hands changed into blue as I trapped its pincers in a stasis field that kept it locked in place. As I could feel the beads of sweat starting to drip down my face from this prolonged effort the admiral's daughter swung upwards with her knife, separating it from the two objects in a heartbeat. Well at least our practice sessions have paid off.

From there I was able to pull the Lancer off my back and hose the thing down with lead. Even after having it's appendages severed and six bullets from my pistol lodged in it, the rachni would not go down. No wonder it took the fucking krogan to eradicate these damn bugs, they're resilient as all hell.

"Thanks for the assist." All she could manage in return was a nod as our attention was quickly forced back on the spider horde. At least the big fuckers on our end of the battle were clear for a split-second now.

A fact that the commander evidently made track of as he diverted my fire to the front lines where a group of three large bastards had just sprung from out of nowhere. Really need to come up with a name for those. "Wolf. Grenade front."

Now that the battle had finally begun in earnest, Caleb's cool demeanor returned. Which was good because I don't know if anyone else was feeling it. Wrex seemed to be on the edge of a Blood Rage, Chelsea was practically foaming at the mouth, Liara was visibly starting to look apprehensive and Tali was almost frantic in her spinning this way and that to protect our rear.

Attaching my AR to a magnetic strip on my right shoulder blade, I brought the grenade launcher out and slapped an incendiary grenade in there. If there was one thing I noticed from the attack so far, Tali's fire attack had definitely cleared some space for us so they did not like the hot stuff one bit. Although I guess that was a pretty universal trait for sentient species, it seemed to hold a special place in their heart.

"Down in front." I muttered under my breath as I lined up the trajectory with the aid of my hood's combat VI. Once I was satisfied, I gently squeezed the trigger and the hollow sound that accompanied the tube full of dangerous chemicals being propelled joined the din. Two of the rachni caught on fire and their pincers went every which way as they flailed in agony. As the splash zone continued to widen, the third flew backwards in a visible panic as the swarmers continued their suicidal rush towards us, not caring one bit for the flame that engulfed at least ten of them in the blaze.

"Solid effect…good placement Wolf." Caleb gave a quick compliment before returning me to my position. "Return to former assignment helping Miss Zorah."

"Roger that." I kept my shotgun out this time as it seemed to both do the most damage to the sizable ones and the blast was wide enough to usually catch at least a couple spidery things in its path. As I returned to my post, I did a quick grenade round check and found that I had two frag rounds left but only one each of the EMP and incendiary ones. Fuck but I should have brought more fire rounds with me. The EMP shit is kind of useless right now with all the geth seemingly butchered by these things.

"How you holding up?" I quickly queried my back-line partner.

"I'm doing just wonderful." Her omni-tool flared to life and an electrical current sprang towards a canister laying haphazardly on the ground. The miniature explosion caught a soldier, that's what I'm fucking calling them now in my head, that had just dropped from a vent in the ceiling.

"How'd you know?" I ran forward and buried three full loads of shotgun pellets deep into the creature's carapace, putting it down for good. Hopefully. It was hard to tell with these fuckers, so there was no kill like overkill in my book.

"Didn't." She flicked her arm sideways, as if drawing a line across the ground and as I rejoined her a stream of flammable liquids burst to life, creating a small wall of flame that separated us from the crowd. "Took a guess that it would be ignitable and I was right."

I didn't have more time to muse on the subject as Chelsea yelled in glee. "We've punched a hole to the VI station! Get your asses in gear and sprint like a fucking drill sergeant on your back!"

The sentence probably didn't mean much to the non-humans in the room, but I booked it like my life depended on it, that was a serious fucking statement. We arrived at the tall white semi-circle in a matter of moments, crossing the other half of the room in mere seconds compared to the minutes we had just spent slogged in combat.

As soon as we arrived, Caleb dropped a singularity dead in the center of the path and I finished the combo two seconds later with a warp that sent rachni pieces everywhere. "Your turn Tali."

The young woman stood at the platform that went down into the heart of the computer, taking a few seconds to compose herself. Seeing her nervousness, I tried to ease things along, showing a confident nonchalant attitude that I did not feel at all.

"Relax Bubbles, I'm not gonna let anything hurt you. You get down there, get this power back online and don't worry one bit about what's going on up here." I looked to the rest of the crew who all were resolutely facing the still oncoming horde. "We've got this shit."

"Just…don't go dying while I'm down here you bosh'tet."

"Wasn't planning on it." I slammed the button on the side and sent her down into the mass of wires and glowing displays. "Uh, maybe make it quick though? Just in case."

The last thing I saw of the quarian woman was the orange glow of her omni-tool reflecting off her visor as it flared to life, illuminating the dark pit she was descending into. God I hope the rachni don't have a way of getting in there that doesn't include going over our dead bodies. If I pushed the button that sent that sweet, naive girl to her death I don't know how I'll live with myself.

"Everything go ok?"

I stepped back into the firing line and was now shoulder to shoulder with the commander. For once, he was giving his biotics a rest and was using an SMG to rip into the spidery small ones, leaving the big ones to the people with the heavier weapons. There still was seemingly no end to the terrifying beasts, so that meant we'd have to utilize more biotics in the long run and if there was still an elite group of asari commandoes waiting for us at the end of this tunnel then we'd absolutely need them. Assuming of course they hadn't been set upon and torn to shreds by these things.

"I think so, hell I was probably more nervous than her as a matter of fact."

A soldier stomped it's way over the smaller comrades surrounding it and I threw a lift orb that sent it upwards toward the ceiling, only to come crashing down in one of Wrex's biotic slams. After that it was Liara's turn to buy time as she wound up and threw a singularity in the center of the hallway, once again buying us a precious few moments of peace before the miniature black hole was detonated when the asari maiden couldn't maintain it any longer.

"It's good you talked to her. I was going to give a little pep talk or something but I figured you could handle it better considering the subject."

What does that mean? "I don't know why I would be more qualified to give anyone a pump-up speech over you but alright, I'll take your word for it I guess."

The krogan in red armor guffawed loudly as he crushed a bug underfoot, seemingly not caring as the dangerous liquid coated his shinpiece. Regeneration's a hell of a thing. "I'd take the commander's word on this one Wolf. That suit hides a lot but it's hard to fool this." He brought one of his massive fingers up to his nostrils and gave them a tap. "This thing doesn't lie."

"Can we just get back to killing these things?" I was still at a bit of a loss and I didn't like not being in on the subject matter. Plus, holding the line was taking every bit of my concentration right now.

"Don't have to ask me twice." The battlemaster's statement was punctuated by a blast from his Claymore shotgun.

Chelsea's strained voice came from my left. "Can you get up a Bio-Cade Wolf? Heat sinks on my weapon need a breather."

"Are your human weapons sturdy?"

Seemingly puzzled by the question, the platinum blonde Spectre hesitantly answered. "Yes?"

"Then club 'em. Works just as well for me."

Chelsea sighed. "Unfortunately we don't all have your krogan levels of strength Wrex. Otherwise I'd love to do that, trust me."

He just grunted and without another word, I punched forward and created a wall of biotics between us and the creatures. Instead of drenching it in acid though, this time they just stopped as if studying the object in front of them. One of the bigger rachni tapped the glowing purple obstacle experimentally, as if feeling for some kind of weakness. I really don't like this. These things are persistent enough already without learning about how to counter shit.

All at once, the rachni stopped its inspection and gave an ear-shattering screech. Just as quickly as they appeared, the horde faded into the vents like a mist evaporates before the bright morning sun. I've got a feeling we haven't seen anywhere near the last of these fuckers. At least we survived this one intact though. Well, mostly at least.

"Injury report!"

Wrex was the first to sound off, studying a large gash in his stomach-region as he talked. "Wounded but nothing I won't just come back from."

"I'm going to need another heavy dose for the warp-burn on my arm soon." Chelsea studied the charred piece that covered her arm before looking down at her leg. "Left side armor is still structurally intact but I got hit by acid splash."

"Anyone else?" Caleb continued his questioning, still holding an SMG in one hand that was complimented by his other fist which glowed blue with biotics.

"I am alright other than a headache."

"That's the first signs of biotic exhaustion." Caleb gestured my way. "Wolf do you have enough supplements to help her out?"

"C'mon Shep, when do I not carry extra of the good stuff?" I fished out a nutrient bar and smoothie, handing them both to the asari maiden. "Anyone carrying stims by the way? I don't know how long this is going to go for but I could use a boost."

"I've got you covered." Caleb of all people came through in the clutch. Never would have figured he'd be the type to stoop to stims but it seems there's a lot I don't know about the Lion of Elysium. "It's on the back center compartment of my armor. Take your pick."

"Bro…seriously?" Chelsea looked on disapprovingly. "You told me you didn't need those anymore. I thought you said you stopped relying on them last time we talked?"

"We don't have time for this right now." Caleb practically growled as he handed me one of the objects and I let my omni-tool distribute it through my system, the jolt hitting almost immediately. "There's already been enough distractions on this mission without something else coming up."

He looked very pointedly through his visor and I decided to make myself scarce, heading back over to the quarian on Pilgrimage stuck in a VI core. God this mission's got everybody on the freaking edge. Might as well go talk to the one bastion of calm I can count on in all this. "Hey, you all good down there Tali?"

"Doing fine, thank you." Some muttering drifted upwards towards me and a smile spread across my face at the curses, translated and untranslated that reached my ears. "This thing is so unstable I'm having to transfer every bit of power one by one and making sure not to crash it all the while. Whoever designed this as an ideal way to repair it is an idiot."

"I'll take your word for it."

She sighed loudly. "I take it the rachni have retreated since there's no gunfire and you're standing here chatting with me?"

"Yeah." I couldn't help but give a quick glance around. Now that we knew these things could come from just about anywhere, it didn't ease the tension in the room. "For the time being at least."

"Everyone ok?"

I shrugged even though she couldn't see it. "More or less. Chelsea's arm is still pretty fucked up from where she got hit with a warp in that fight in the SI office and now she got some acid splashed onto her leg. Thankfully the armor took the brunt of it though. Wrex looks like he took a glancing claw in the side of the stomach but he says he's going to walk it off."

"They're both stubborn. They'll make it through alright."

I put my back against the bone-white walls surrounding the VI core and slumped down, cradling my shotgun across my lap as I grinned. "You're one to talk."

"Hey, I am **not** stubborn." Her accented voice grew thick with insistence. "It's just that I usually happen to be right about things whenever I have to deal with bosh'tets like you." That only made my laughter grow louder which didn't help the situation one bit. In fact, it only made me receive a slap on the back of my head for my trouble as the girl apparently was finished down there. "You're such an idiot."

"An idiot who knows how to fight thankfully."

I just stayed seated as the other four members of the team rejoined us. It didn't take long for Shepard to demand a status report. "Tali, what were you able to find down there?"

"To sum it up, Matriarch Benezia took the tramway to another part of the station. However, the trams are currently offline and the only way to activate them is to head to both the roof and the reactor to kickstart the thing. I've done all I can from here and anything else that happens needs a manual connection established for the VI to finish the repairs."

"Good work Tali." He gave a nod before bringing his hand up to rest at the base of his helmet.

"You thinking of splitting up?" Chelsea sprung a question as he pondered.

"Bad idea." I shook my head. "Remember what Joker said about the horror vids? Shit always goes wrong once you start dividing people up."

My bad attempt at lightening the mood fell on deaf ears seemingly as no one even moved to acknowledge it. "I think if we move fast, we should be fine." The Lion came to a snap decision. "It's not like they can swarm both of our groups at full-force if we split up and with as narrow of fighting quarters as we've been in, the numbers change won't make a huge difference."

"I'll take Liara and Wrex to the reactor. That sounds like a whole bucket-load of fun."

Caleb nodded. "And I'll take Wolf and Tali to the roof. Meet back here at the entrance to the trams, anything goes wrong then blast it out over frequency five-two-eight point four-nine-one. Sync omni-tools now."

"Done." Chelsea nodded and then waved her hand. "Let's get a fucking move on boys, no time to sit around here with our thumbs up our asses."

As they disappeared down the hallway, I turned to Caleb. "Anything similarly inspirational to say Commander Shepard, sir?"

"Just-" He exhaled sharply in annoyance at the whole situation. "Try not to take an acid bath or get impaled by one of these things."

I clapped loudly as we entered an elevator and ascended to the roof. "Words to live by sir. You're a true orator."

"You know Wolf, sometimes I regret letting Woley talk me and Anderson into signing you on."

"You're not the only one."

I put a hand over my heart. "Wow Tali. And here I thought we were friends."

 **A/N: Happy Friday to all you lovely folks reading this, hope the weekend treats you well. Not much to say other than I cannot wait for Summer and Persona 5 has its hooks all the way into me right now. Andromeda was pretty good but this game caused me to kick it to the curb immediately which shocked me.**

 **Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for still continuing to Beta for me.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **RSC: A whole lot probably :/ I've had some roster ideas floating around for the interim that I'll probably be sending your way Saturday/Sunday so keep an eye out and let me know what you think.**

 **GJD: You are not far off. I don't know if he'll exactly be on a broker level of information gathering but Wolf is going to take a new direction in the upcoming months.**

 **Dekuton: Well, he might be making a couple trips out to Omega before ME2 even rolls around so meeting back up with Aria after the whole, "letting Wolf/Woley potentially get killed," thing could be fun.**

 **Ronnambi: Thanks for the review!**

 **TIP: I know what you mean, I've thought about going back and condensing down the first 20 chapters or so but that's a shit-ton of work and I frankly don't have the time. Just writing this out in my spare hours is already enough of a task.**


	26. When the Pincer Hits the Bone

"Sure would be nice to have more people right about now!"

I side-stepped a claw aimed at my chest and took advantage of the opening the rachni soldier left, firing three shots from my suppressed pistol into it before finishing the job with a palm crush that left green blood sizzling against the cold white snow on the ground.

We had reached the roof via elevator without incident. All was seemingly well, at least besides the warnings my armor's VI was giving me about the rapidly dropping temperature potentially causing malfunction. Naturally, at that point our tech expert, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya went to work on…doing whatever it is that she does. As if they could sense that our already divided force was down one more person, the persistent fucks took that opportunity to strike. They were like that horror movie villain that no matter how many times you blast him with a fucking shotgun, somehow they keep coming. And it was tiring as all hell.

Although the initial fear of the unknown was starting to wear off, that didn't change the fact I wasn't too keen on getting acid on my nice new armor. Or a pincer through the middle of it for that matter.

Shepard chimed in. "I would have thought this would be right up your alley Wolf. You said something about being better solo or in pairs when it comes to fighting. Don't tell me after all that complaining back in Port Hanshan that the Butcher is tired of combat already?"

"Nathan…" A rising panic level came in over the comms from our currently very occupied engineer.

I didn't even crane my neck to see the situation with her, instead opting to spin on my heel and charge to her location. That was when I saw the corrosive liquid coming right at her way. "Bio-cade incoming!" Both hands jutted out and the noxious green ooze splashed against the wall I had created. In a split-second, an idea crossed my mind and I started to twist my hands, warping the shape in front of me.

"Nate what are you doing?" The young woman's bright eyes shone through her visor, emanating uncertainty at my actions.

"Just trust me on this." Finally, I turned my barricade inside-out and my plan was ready to put into action. "When have I ever done something reckless?" 

The deafening silence was the only response I needed, but I didn't let that deter me. My biotics had formed an almost spherical hollow ball, purple biotics shining on the outside reflecting the glow of the lethal green toxins inside it.

With a scream of final effort, I hurled the ball and its contents back at the original owner. As the orb reached its destination, I let it dissipate and my exhale of exhaustion was only drowned out by the rachni fighter wailing as its own weapon was turned against it.

Now that she was free to operate again, I returned to Shepard. "God I wish I had gotten that on video. Would have been one to add to my highlight reel." I looked skyward even though I couldn't see the Normandy from here. "Joker, if you hear me right now then record that shit and save it. Wanna see that on Badass Weekly or something."

"You have a highlight reel?"

I cocked my head at Shepard's query. "Are you saying you don't?"

The tier six Adept had tucked all his weapons onto his belt in my absence, and was now positively ablaze with biotic fury. I could almost feel his fists crackling with energy as he picked up one rachni and with a sweeping gesture flung it into another, sending both off the roof and down into the icy depths below.

His grin, laced with audacity as if he was enjoying the chance to go full-bore against a seemingly innumerable foe, could be easily perceived through the see-through front of his helmet. I forget sometimes about just how terrifying he is when he really cuts loose. It's kinda like me most of the time, I just lack the decency or ability to give a shit to cover up my more violent tendencies. Which when it comes down to it, makes seeing Shepard's switch get flipped infinitely more intimidating than I could ever hope to be. Even though I definitely try my hardest whenever the need to make someone shit themselves pops up.

"Take care of the small ones and leave the big guys to me."

In response, I just pulled out my Lancer and started to take the crawlers out in short bursts causing them to fall apart with each trigger pulled. "You just hog all the fun, you know that Shep?"

"Considering I bought you at least a good fifteen minutes away from my sister's wrath, I think I've earned this."

As I watched out of the corner of my eye, he held up a fist and a biotic chain tethered itself to the closest rachni. Oh shit…I recognize this from back on Therum. When he did that to a krogan it didn't end well for the bastard. For either side actually now that I think about it, Shep seemed about to keel over afterward which wouldn't be great for our current situation.

"While that is a fair point, do you think using your terror thing right now is really the smartest-"

That was all I could get out before he ripped apart the creature using the link he had created with a reave-like technique. After that I could only watch as he pushed a warp through the bond he had created and wreaked havoc on the rachni's internals with rapidly shifting mass effect fields that tore it apart from the inside. It was really a sight to behold.

"Shep you alright?" I ran over to the man's side, still pelting the oncoming horde with numerous projectiles launched from my rifle. To my great surprise though, he still stood stock upright. "Oh, I guess you didn't really need my help after all…"

He just laughed me off, still dominating the field of battle like some biotic god, hellbent on destroying all before him. "Chelsea might be furious that I'm taking stims again but with everything that's going on I figured I could use the boost. Looks like I was right."

"Gonna be one hell of a crash afterwards."

"Eh." He shrugged it off while simultaneously pulling two rachni towards his clenched fist and then hurling them into another rachni warrior. "As long as we pull this mission off successfully I couldn't care less."

"Anything for the mission, huh?" I muttered more to myself than him. "Tali, how's that repair coming along?"

"Almost done. At least as long as you keep these bosh'tets off me, and I don't have to answer any more questions."

"So much sass….you'd think someone who just had their life saved would be a bit more thankful."

I fired four bursts from my N7 Piranha that shredded a rachni into a pile of sizzling goo only to be interrupted by a panicked shout from Tali. "Nathan!"

It took a half-second to register that she was not in fact complaining about my firing back but instead was warning about something. I didn't have the time to do anything other than throw myself to the ground and hope that my movement would be enough. When a searing pain ripped through my side, an involuntary scream of pain rattled my vocal chords. "Fucking hell I'm hit!"

From my position on the ground, I could see the culprit. One of the fucking monsters had crept around the side and decided putting its pincer-like claw through my chest was the best course of action. Thankfully, Tali had apparently been keeping an eye on us while she worked as instead of going straight through my torso, its blow glanced against my ribcage. I could already feel my built-in VI go into overtime to distribute the medi-gel to the affected spot and thanks to the combination of that and the stims I was riding high in, I was able to get to my feet.

"This is brand new you piece of shit."

It spit acid at my words and generating a barrier around my hand, I deflected the stream away from myself, taking care that neither the commander or Tali would be hit. With the mounting pain came rage and throwing caution to the wind as blood poured down the side of my armor, I closed the gap with a charge. It attempted to impale me immediately but I flipped my shotgun around, using it like a baseball bat to knock away the potentially lethal implements. Flipping the weapon around the right way, I fired over and over into the hard outer shell that protected it. When my weapon overheated, I tossed it to the ground and tossed a warp with my right hand that burned through its shell before using my other hand to blast a heavily-concentrated palm crush into the area I had just opened.

The sudden burst of activity brought me to a knee and for the first time, I studied the wound. With my enemy now dead and a second to breathe, the onslaught of pain made me inhale sharply. Thank god for the fact that my bloodstream was full of painkillers and whatever stims were made of because the sight wasn't pretty. There was a gash the size of an open palm marring the right side of my chest piece and through the gore and flesh, I could see a speckle of white. God I did not need to my ribcage like this.

"Wolf is down we need to move!" Caleb had regrouped with me and was slathering my open side in more medi-gel while firing with his pistol with the other. "Tali?"

"One second and…" A loud beeping came from the device and instantly she was back on her feet, shotgun in hand. "We're good, let's get out of here."

I jammed my open palm against my side, breathing heavily at the fresh wave of pain that somehow crested higher than the last one. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to stay conscious.

As if he was reading my thoughts, the commander pulled me to my feet and tossed my arm over his shoulder. With my free hand, I pulled my pistol off my hip and fired at a few of the tiny rachni that were still swarming us. "Wolfert look at me!" I shook my head from side to side to clear the fog and looked at the man. "We need to get to the elevator and get away from these things, once we get back down with the rest of the team we can regroup and make sure you're not going to die from blood loss."

The word, "die," registered in my brain as a bad thing for some reason but the actual meaning went over my head. As the three of us shambled our way to the way back to safety, I fought through the haze of drugs and pain, still firing my weapon. Thank God for combat programs because my vision was not to be trusted at this point. My targeting software however was still working just fine.

"Almost there Nate, hold it together." The quarian engineer took a moment to spray an icy blast from her omni-tool that froze a rachni soldier in an instant.

My mind told me to do something but it was like being underwater and not knowing which way was up. "I should…shatter it?" I tried to focus as much as I could on generating a warp into my hand. It felt like it took a lot longer than usual but in this state I honestly couldn't say for sure, but eventually I managed to muster a weak orb and toss it at the ice-covered creature. Even though it wasn't up to my usual standards, it still managed to break it to pieces and clear the way for our escape.

The three of us piled into the elevator, Lieutenant Commander Shepard hurriedly putting me into a sitting position against the back wall before returning to the front-line with Tali. "I got it." Was all I managed to slur out before erecting a Bio-Cade in front of the entrance to our avenue of escape.

"Tali, keep him awake!"

Even though I had put up a wall, the doors were slow to close and while the girl on her Pilgrimage came over to help, he still stood there just waiting to make sure there would not be a last minute ambush. The rachni ran forward in a last-minute literal push, hissing and wailing as they beat against the last reserves of my energy in the form of the biotic barricade I had erected.

"Shep…can't." Was all I managed to croak out as my arms convulsed from the strain.

"Drop the shield Wolf. I only need to buy us a few seconds for this door to close." With a sigh of relief, my arms slumped to my side and I just lay there reclining against the wall, dead to the world for all intents and purposes.

On the plus side, as Tali attended to the slash on the side of my chest, I had a first row seat to the fireworks show. Shepard started it off by sweeping his open palm just inches from the ground, a pulsating shockwave following in tow and tossing rachni in all directions as it flew out from the mouth of the lift. Just as quickly though, more enemies filled the gap and he tossed a singularity into their center, just letting it hang there to suck more bugs into its gravitational pull. His right arm flared out followed by his left and orbs of pulsating blue light struck the oncoming horde, tossing them into the still swirling singularity. The last thing I saw as the door finally closed and that damn roof disappeared from sight was the resulting biotic detonation and the commander slumping against the wall for a split-second.

Just as quickly though, he shook his head fiercely and stood ramrod-stiff. "Wolf you alright?"

He now had rejoined Tali at my side, no outward sign of the strain on him. "He's lost a lot of blood but it appears the medi-gel's done its job." I just nodded in thanks, not really feeling up to doing much of anything at the moment. The mixture of shock, stims and painkillers was easing the pain somewhat but it was all I could do just to stay sitting upright and not screaming. "This undersuit of his somehow appears to be stitching itself closed as well so if I spread some omni-gel across the spot of the piercing, he should be protected from the extreme temperature."

Ah yes, the wonders of Cerberus tech. I had almost forgotten that in addition to enhancing your natural musculature, the bug-looking undersuit they had given me was self-repairing. Not that I could ever admit who I had gotten this from.

"Trade secret." Was all I managed to mumble out.

"Wolf." The commander shook his head before getting up and pacing the tiny box we were trapped in as we descended. Occasionally, a rachni yell could be heard but it didn't appear they had any way of getting in the elevator itself. Hooray for small miracles. "I hate to do this but you're going to have to come with. Don't even think about pulling some, 'you guys go on without me bullshit,' because it's not happening."

I smiled weakly. "I was actually going to say if you guys try to leave me I'll steal the Mako and abandon you all here." My own joke made me laugh and I instantly regretted it as the wound felt like someone had just stabbed it. "Fuckin' A...that hurts like a bitch. Not sure how much mobility I'll have in a fight like this but with the rachni, going close quarters isn't great anyway."

"That's what I was thinking." His toe tapped incessantly. "I'll switch the formation up so you'll be in the center. No offense but I don't want us depending on you in any way right now. Any help you can provide will be a bonus."

"I'm hurt bad Shep." I deftly opened a compartment on his armor and flooded my system with another stim, the adrenaline kicking in almost immediately. "But I ain't dead just yet. Takes more than a little stab wound to keep an N7 down."

"'Ain't,' isn't a word you oversized thug." It wasn't the best insult but I could appreciate Shep trying to communicate on my level as he pulled me back to my feet. "Just do what you can and if it gets to be too much," he hesitated, "we'll figure something out. The good news is, thanks to Tali I don't think anything pierced your ribcage."

"Yeah thanks Tali." I rubbed the top of her head before she swatted it away. "I owe you big time for that one. Although…I do wonder why you were watching me instead of trying to hack that thing."

"The only thing stopping me from hitting you right now is that you'd probably bleed on me." She tersely fired back as I had to rein in the laughter to protect my side. "If I had known what I would have to put up with I would have just let that rachni sneak up on you without saying anything."

"That's cold. But I know you'd miss me too much so it takes away most of the sting."

She just gave a dismissive, "hmph," of annoyance before storming through the finally open doors in front of us. Shepard grabbed my arm on the non-wounded side, about to throw it over his shoulder when I stopped him. "It's all good Shep. You just do your thing and don't worry about me. I know you've got enough on your plate as is."

"Worrying about the team is part of my job so suck it up and let somebody else help you for once."

I stood still for a moment in stubborn defiance before sighing and relenting. "Fine. Have it your way."

"I will." A little smirk peeked out of his clear faceplate. "One of the perks of being in charge."

Thankfully, no rachni swarm greeted us as we returned to the room that held the VI core. Instead it was just the trio of Chelsea, Wrex and Liara who looked like they had gone through quite the fight themselves. Liara's shoulder pauldron appeared to sport a new scorch mark, one of Wrex's hands was bleeding profusely and Chelsea was unhurt but sweating heavily.

"Status report." Going into professional mode, Caleb nodded towards his sister.

"There's still some geth hanging around that managed to fight off the rachni apparently. Had to fight a Prime and a few Destroyers in addition to the regular shit so they seem to be holing up in defensible pockets. They're smart for buckets of bolts." The older of the twins nodded towards Liara. "Couple of geth tag-teamed Liara, one hacked her shields down and then they just caught her with a modded incinerate. Armor took the brunt of it thankfully though." She slapped Liara on the shoulder and the poor girl winced at the unexpected contact. "Which means Wolf survives to live another minute as his store's armor isn't complete ass apparently."

"Jack's Armory sells only the best." I wheezed out.

"Rest of us are fine, which is more than I can apparently say for our resident Butcher." The N7 stepped across the room and started to examine me closely, a slight sense of worry betraying the seeming lack of care in her words. "Fuck happened to you? Don't tell me you went and got yourself killed just to win that argument we had back at Port Hanshan?"

"Ha-ha-ha. I would laugh at the joke but…it hurts too much." She grabbed me by the chin without warning and stared at me intently. Even though the Recon Hood completely hid my facial expression, I couldn't help but avert my eyes from the stare as I clung to Caleb's side. "Yes Shepard?"

"I meant what I said about keeping everybody alive so if you pull some stupid shit and die on me I will beat you to death with your own skull."

"That doesn't seem physically possible."

A wicked grin crossed her face and she stole me from her fraternal twin's side, hitching me to hers. "It's never stopped me before. Now come on you big pansy, you're gonna help me provide whatever support you can from the front lines. Between me and the walking tank it's the safest spot for you."

"I was going to change the formation a bit and stick him in the-"

She whirled and faced her co-commanding officer, fixing him with a withering glare. "Usually I default to you since this is your lead but I'm putting my foot down on this one. Wolf stays up here with me and Wrex where I can keep a very close eye on him."

"You know." I shuffled my way over to the tram, still held partially aloft with the aid of the commander herself. "Usually when people say they're keeping an eye on me it's reassuring. In this case though…it's basically the opposite."

"Are you doubting Wrex's combat abilities?"

She raised an eyebrow and the krogan whirled to face me. "Of course not, Wrex is Wrex. I'd take having the big guy on the front lines with me any day of the week."

"Oh so you're doubting **me** then?"

As much as it pained me, I tried to be a voice of reason. "How about we stop before we start arguing and are at each other's throats again?"

Chelsea nodded to Caleb and with a lurch, the next elevator in our never-ending procession of the fucking things took us skyward. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Chelsea smirked. "Your side's already been cut open, I would hate for your mouth to get hurt too from the foot you have permanently lodged in there."

I muttered just loud enough to be heard. "Trust me, if my side didn't hurt so fucking much it'd be somewhere else right now." Liara cocked her head to the side and I decided to become the idiom translator of the day. "It's a human phrase that basically refers to sticking it in there so you can't say any more stupid shit."

"Oh I understand." She mused. "So the foot refers to a theoretical blocking of the mouth, hindering the subject's ability to speak then. Human culture has so many interesting expressions, I find it quite fascinating how many various colloquialisms you have. It is almost as if there is one for any situation you find yourself in."

Chelsea meanwhile had been inspecting my side. "Damn, that undersuit Daxy whipped up for you really is something. I almost wouldn't have believed my eyes if the outside of your armor wasn't caked in your own blood. It really is self-repairing…I thought there was some trick to the thing but you weren't shitting me."

"I'll make sure to let him know you're impressed but no, you still can't get one. Sorry."

"Had to try. What if I pick you up and drop you on your side? Would that do it?"

"I've gone through interrogation training at N school, I highly doubt that's going to work. Plus, you've already got one warp burn today. Let's not add to it." We were making our way through more tight hallways, the map almost unnecessary as we were now being herded on a direct line to the trams that would finally take us to our destination. "Besides, I doubt you could pick me up anyway."

"Wrex'll do it for m-…shit. That's not ominous at all."

Out mutual threatening was interrupted as we had come upon a sort of large class cylinder, about the same size as the hallway we had occupied that appeared to be broken out of from the inside judging from the glass covering the observation room floor next to it. A quick but thorough investigation revealed an audio log that didn't appear to have been recorded too long before the initial break-out.

" _We didn't realize-"_

Static cut the message into fragmented sentences that cut out the most important parts. As was protocol for this type of thing. "Just once I'd like to come across a scientist who leaves a doomsday log that's not either broken up or filled with unintelligible screaming. Just once."

"Shut up Wolf, we're trying to listen here!"

I sighed but gave in to my female boss' request, just shaking my head as the log of failure and death kept going. _"Much more intelligent than…if Queen's unable to control…can't live with myself…unleashed on the galaxy...still suspect someone…"_

Craning my neck, I noticed a dead scientist with a couple puncture wounds going straight through his torso. Two credits says this is the poor unlucky bastard who made the log. "Hey, found the guy. Checking his corpse for anything valuable." I thought for a moment about my reputation and decided to make an addendum to that statement. "As far as info goes I mean. I haven't stooped low enough to need to pick a dead guy's pockets quite yet."

"Roger that Wolf." Shepard gave a cursory glance my way and nodded. "Have Wrex watch your back and keep us updated."

"Thanks, I'd like to keep at least one side of me fully intact Shep."

Taking a few steps towards the corner of the room and checking for vents just to have an idea where I'd need to respond if a threat did appear, I gingerly crouched low over the cadaver. "Pretty safe to say he was probably one of the first if that cage was holding some live specimens."

As I spoke to no one in particular, I activated my omni-tool and subtly ran the Cerberus hacking module in the background of my device. Since I didn't have much time, I set it to brute force its way through whatever security the scientist's own hardware would have, rip it out and then clear everything else. It had all the subtlety of an explosives ordinance squad kicking down a door and then setting up an explosive to take down a target but considering the circumstances I didn't really have to worry about someone doing any kind of reverse search to try and determine just who did it. Plus, time was kind of crucial at this point and I didn't have enough of it to do something more subtle.

"Pyjak had it coming if he was playing around with stuff like this." Wrex sniffed unmercifully. "It took the krogan to stop these animals last time and that was before the bastards sterilized us. A rachni outbreak at the same time as a geth invasion would be a disaster."

"Let's just hope there's not too many." I rolled over the body so the man was now face-down and cursed loudly. While what had probably been a pristine white lab coat was now marred with blood and disfigured to the point it was mere tatters now, through the claw wounds, three small circular wounds that I recognized all too well were there as well. "Bullet holes. Considering I don't think anyone would take the time to plug a random scientist after he'd been ripped apart by rachni, I'm guessing the puncture wounds were post-mortem."

"Unless someone just really hated his guts. There's a few people I wouldn't hesitate to give a final shotgun blast to after they were dead."

"Surprisingly, I actually share that little sentiment." I shook my head and tried to fight the grin even though it wouldn't show thanks to the Recon Hood. My earpiece dinged quietly to let me know the hacking software had done its job and with it, I gingerly got back to my feet, trying my best to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on my wounded side. Still didn't stop me from inhaling sharply as a stab of pain shot through my body as I stood all the way up. "Guy's omni-tool was wiped too." Of course, that technically wasn't a lie. I'd just leave out that I did it. "Paints an even more interesting picture of what was going on here."

"Heh. And people say places like Omega are terrifying. At least there you know everyone you meet will stab you in the back the minute you turn around. Rather have that than these corporate snakes who smile at you before they do it." He cradled his Claymore shotgun across his arms and tilted his head back, letting his advanced krogan senses go to work. "Don't smell any rachni nearby. The stench of death isn't as heavy here either so I can finally take advantage of my senses."

"Well I'm done here. Guess we can rejoin the team."

The four of them were still huddled around the display, Tali's three-fingered hands frantically manipulating the computer's holographic display. It was funny seeing the body language of the other three now that there was nothing going on. Liara appeared to be calm but at every noise, real or imagined, I could see her helmet subtly scanning this way and that. Not that I could blame her to be honest, the whole situation was a bit much even for me and she didn't have anywhere near the amount of combat experience I did. The commander was rigidly upright, not showing one sign of weakness or movement even in this moment of relative peace. Guess he'd gone back into, "mission mode," in this short timeframe. And Chelsea…was just Chelsea. Her entire essence just radiated, "don't fuck with me," and God help the person who does.

"Find anything cool on the dead guy?" And that would be my female CO.

"Depends on your definition of, 'cool,' but his omni-tool was completely wiped." The Shepards gave a collective, "huh," of interest in the statement so I continued. "Also, while he was definitely brutalized by the rachni. He had three bullet holes in his chest. Considering the size and placement I'd guess pistol but don't quote me on that. Not sure what exactly what any of that tells you but it definitely says something."

"It tells me we can talk as we take the tram." Tali interrupted. "From what checking I could do from here, it seems to still be functioning and I'd rather not get ambushed in this close of quarters."

Liara broke her silence. "I agree with Miss Zorah. The longer we take, the more chance the rachni have of running totally unchecked across this facility."

"Bah. Bring 'em on." Count on Wrex for wanting a good-old fashioned brawl.

"Let's move team." Chelsea took lead and I resumed my designated injury position smack dab in the front line, right next to her. Apparently she still counted on herself more than anybody else to keep me in the land of the living. "Trams should be around the corner if that map Wolf mysteriously got is still accurate."

"So you said he was shot?"

We had reached the railway without further incident and were now speeding along the never-ending tunnel. The short period of rest was actually doing the opposite of what it was meant to however, as with the din and chaos of combat gone nothing could distract me from the immense pain in my side that no combination of painkillers and stims could completely dull.

"Yeah. Three times if you wanna be exact commander." I winced as I tried my best to patch the hole in my armor with omni-gel. The self-repairing undersuit had reformed miraculously thanks to Cerberus schizo tech but the chest piece I had received them…not so much. "My running theory is someone orchestrated this breakout, but I'm still working out the why. That log the scientist made showed evidence they were extremely concerned about the ability to tame the rachni, but he made no mention of a breakout just yet. If he was killed before this shitshow went down then a mole or multiple moles could have been manipulating things from the inside, making sure that everything went tits up when the time was right." Coming out of my musing, I realized everyone was staring so I resorted to my natural defense mechanism and scratched the top of my Recon Hood as I chuckled sheepishly. "Of course, I'm no detective though. If Vakarian were here I'm sure he'd be able to put the puzzle pieces together much more easily and accurately."

"Right."

Liara added her two cents as Chelsea just gave me a skeptical look following her comment. "That does make logical sense as a chain of events. Although the reasoning behind it confuses me as well…I just wonder what part my m- Benezia has to play in all this."

Damn that's rough. Compartmentalizing what we do on a daily basis is already tough enough and none of us have had to go up against our own flesh and blood. "I agree but the why doesn't matter right now, that's for the higher-ups to work out after we fix things. What we need to concern ourselves with right now is stopping the matriarch and corralling the rachni."

"Which comes first?" Wrex rumbled, cocking his head from the relaxed position he had assumed. Lucky bastard and his fucking natural regenerative abilities. Sitting and having that pressure on my side was too much so I was now in the process of laying out on the floor of the moving vehicle, just staring at the ceiling.

The commander didn't hesitate for a second. "Our primary objective is still Matriarch Benezia but making sure the rachni are not able to leave this facility comes in at a very close second place. Understood?"

All five of us nodded in agreement as the ride came to an end. "Same formation bossman?"

He looked over to his sister who tersely nodded. "You're still up front with me tough guy." She motioned to punch me in the side and I cringed accordingly which got a chuckle from her. "And by the way, I order you as your superior officer to not charge in when we get into combat."

"I'm not that hurt Chelsea, I mean sure I've got a little bit of a cut in my side but-"

She raised her hand again and when I sidestepped away, the commander just nodded. "Exactly. You're staying glued to my hip and providing only bio-support and cover fire so I can shoot stuff easier. Got it, Wolf?"

"Understood." As an attempt to keep myself from thinking about the pain, I tried to make a joke. "I am one-hundred and ten percent for sticking to your hips."

An almost inhuman growl came from somewhere behind me and I decided to stare straight ahead and not look anywhere else. "How about rephrasing that last sentence slightly Contractor Wolfert?"

"No time for that!" Chelsea broke out into a jog as the unmistakable sounds of gunfire could be heard echoing through the hallways. "I think it's through here!"

All six of us weaved our way through the halls, scanning three-hundred and sixty degrees the entire time just to make sure that we weren't going to be the next ones to be shot at. Or stabbed by giant rachni pincers. Once is enough for a lifetime.

The familiar screams of hissing rachni started to interlace its unmistakable sound into the heavy thuds of weapons fire. "Shore up the left side, Klaus is down! Repeat, Klaus is down!"

Chelsea held a single hand up in the classic, "stop," position. They were just on the other side of this door now if the increasingly deafening noise was any indication. Still though, with no way to tell just who was on the other side we could be walking into a potential three-way fight between ourselves, the rachni and Benezia's forces. Hell, the Binary Helix security members could even be wanting us dead as well, if any of them had survived the rachni onslaught that is.

"Move in now. If it's got two legs, don't fire at it unless ordered otherwise." The commander spoke in hushed tones over the comms channel and taking a deep breath, I followed Chelsea in, pistol at the ready.

I had no time to even take in the scene in front of me, although it was easily recognizable as we had just been in the same situation multiple times already. As I started to blast away at the green monsters, I watched the soldiers opposite us in bone-white armor, most of them stained with a combination of red and blue blood from both human and other species alike.

Now that we had them in an effective crossfire, the dozen or so rachni started to fall in short order. As they did, our leader started to yell out over the din of battle, the speakers on his helmet helping to establish his presence. "I'm Commander Shepard, a Council Spectre. We clean up these things and then talk afterward."

"Agreed!" A large human man with a closely-shaved head, almost to the point of baldness answered back.

I tossed a lift orb that caught a couple of the smaller rachni in its wake, sending them skyward. Instantly, my chest racked again with pain and it was all I could do to not keel over instantly.

Chelsea was actually the first to notice my struggle. From her position beside me, she tore a rachni apart with concentrated machine gun fire and then tossed a grenade into another group that had clustered together. "Grenade out!" In the momentary lapse she had bought, the Survivor of Akuze grabbed my arm and put it around her shoulder. "We've got this fight handled tough guy. Don't go getting yourself killed in a situation we've actually got under control."

"Relax, I'm fine alright."

I scoffed and tried to generate a warp but the stabbing stopped me short. Instead of admitting defeat though, I tracked a rachni skittering towards the group opposite us and started firing with my M11. Each shot jerked my hand more than I would have liked, but it was nothing compared to the total body workout that was a biotic attack. Thankfully, I was still able to focus enough to peg the rachni once and then a second time before it could attack anyone.

It gave a hissing screech as Chelsea spoke in a smug voice. "Finally taking my advice I see."

"Nah, I've just got a grenade launcher now and am waiting for the perfect opportunity to blow shit up."

Whipping my arm to the right, I acquired a new target and smoothly depressed the trigger, firing in controlled, even shots. Seemingly enraged by my daring to attack it, the monster came our way now. "Chels." I spoke calmly despite the chaos. It raised a claw to strike and I plugged it right in the upraised appendage, knocking it back to the ground. "Little help here."

"Jeez, take away your biotics and what good are you?" She pulled an N7 Eagle from each hip and left me hanging in mid-air. As quick as she had spoken, a stream of bullets flew from each machine pistol, visibly marking the encroaching enemy with each strike. Against the onslaught from the first human Spectre, well tied for first I guess, it could only stand for so long before it was too much.

"Eh you know, about this good." Deciding it was finally time, I snatched the M-100 from my back and fired a frag round into a cluster of rachni, sending them sideways in the blast. Shit, I'm only down to a single frag, incendiary and EMP now. Gotta make each one count.

I spun to the left and right but the only enemy left had just received a shotgun butt to the head from Wrex. With a meaty thump, it crashed to the ground before two booming blasts ended its existence. "Heh. Hundreds of years later and you still need a krogan around to clean up rachni. Guess some things never change huh Shepard?"

The man just nodded tersely. All the rachni were now gone but that didn't mean the hostilities were at an end. Chelsea rejoined me, tenderly maneuvering me to a position she could help again despite my insistence that I was fine. An armored boot striking my own put an end to any other complaints I had and with that settled, I opted to join my commander in raising my weapon towards the force opposite us.

Silence reigned for a few seconds as both sides simply pointed weapons at each other before Caleb broke the silence with a stern voice. "As I said before, my name is Caleb Shepard. I'm a Council-appointed Spectre and this is my team. We need to speak with Matriarch Benezia immediately, it's a matter of galactic security."

The closely-shaven man paused for a moment more before sighing loudly as he raised his rifle skyward, resting it against his shoulder. "We already have enough enemies on this station without getting on a Spectre's bad side too. Weapons down men." His troops did just that and with the threat seemingly gone, he nodded for us to follow him, leaving his men behind as guards. "Right through here's where you wanna go."

"My name's Ventralis. I'm what goes for a captain around here, the first strike caught us unprepared and a lot of our upper management were wiped out." He led us around the hallway and pointed towards a large room that from the mishmash of people gathered seemed to be a central gathering spot for those displaced by the rachni horde. "I've been running a skeleton crew of stimmed-up soldiers just to keep those damn things at bay. Thankfully that door's the only place they can come in so we've got them funneled into a kill-zone but eventually the sheer numbers will be too much. There's always a breaking point."

"You've been doing a hell of a job protecting these civilians." Shepard nodded firmly. "For being forced into such a crucial role, your performance has been admirable."

"Well thanks." He scratched the top of his head caught off guard from the compliment, and looked away suddenly. "I'd uh, better get back to my men. Who knows when those animals will try sticking their nose in here again. We'll need to be ready to slam the door shut at a moment's notice."

He gave an informal salute that the commander returned and as he left our team alone, the commander strode up to the front lines. "Keep your eyes peeled." His kindly professionalism was gone, replaced by an observing eye that critically scanned the room in front of us. "Don't trust anyone here and make sure someone's watching your back at all times. Saren is a fairly big player for Binary Helix which means he could have agents everywhere and anywhere. Be on your guard."

"Roger that bossman."

With that sobering thought firmly in mind, I waddled in beside the commander's sister who was still not letting me out of her grasp. "I don't know if we can effectively cover each other if you're holding me like this…just throwing that out there."

"Shut up, keep moving and watch everyone."

"In that order?" Her head jerked my way and one evil eye could be seen through her visor. Exasperated, I gave a sarcastic salute with my free hand. "Roger that bosslady. Less talking, more watching your ass."

"Wolf what did you just say?" Caleb yelled over the comm.

 **A/N: Hey, sorry about the long absence guys. Got swamped by Finals and then headed out to California for a much-needed vacation but I'm finally back to my normal schedule so the every other week postings will return going forward. Hope you all are enjoying your summer so far!**

 **Thanks once again goes to Ranger Station Charlie for his continued beta services. Also, keep an eye out soon because there'll be a large chunk (probably about half a chapter's worth) that he actually wrote with me taking a turn being the beta/editor which was actually a lot of fun.**

 **Review answering portion:**

 **Dekuton: Yeah with everything else Joker does, him keeping tabs on helmet cams and audio feeds didn't seem out of character and it just worked really well for that bit so I ran with it. Glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Coduss: Wolf's never really gotten involved with a non-human beyond casual flirting/teasing so anything less than a punch in the face is going to be missed…at least at the beginning ;)**

 **TIP: Thanks! I wanted to go with a more suspenseful route and hopefully it landed. And yeah, Chelsea's been kind of explored already with some of her faults but M!Shep's going to be much more of a slow burn so keep watch for little hints here and there like the stims thing.**

 **Jim: Thanks for the compliment!**

 **Tartarus208: Hahaha, I'm not quite vain enough to think this story has been seen by anyone in the company but I definitely got a little prideful seeing something that I came up with in my own story was a good enough idea that they would come up with something similar for the actual game itself.**


	27. Bad Medicine

"So, is he gonna die or can we get out of here now? We've still got a matriarch to pick apart after this."

My co-commanding officer has such a way with words. After cleaning up the rachni strays, Ventralis had informed us of Benezia's supposed departure to the Hot Labs. Although Caleb went, "along with it", he made the wise decision to take the security officer's words with a grain of salt. Still, on what I considered the slight chance that these people weren't on the matriarch or Saren's payroll there wouldn't be any needless fighting. Got to have a bit of hope that not everyone is in the bottom of someone's pocket I guess.

That's why while Caleb, Wrex and Tali were discreetly scouring the hot labs below, the rest of us were interviewing the local residents of Rift Station. Between a bitchy asari who kept giving Liara weird looks, a traumatized scientist, and an elcor salesman, they were less than helpful. At least Doc. Cohen had the decency to take a look at my ribcage and make sure nothing was too bad. The early diagnosis was several hairline fractures in addition to the obvious gash in my side; but to see the full internals we'd need more time and that was something we did not have.

"Like I said, I was not able to run a complete diagnostic, so I cannot say for sure but I believe he will at least be able to continue fighting. All I can say is you should most certainly do your best to avoid taking any more heavy hits to your side." He sighed loudly as he shuffled over to another coughing patient. "So please, will you follow through on your promise to retrieve the formula then? According to the final reports, everything was completed but the subsequent rachni attacks killed those in the area, not allowing anyone to retrieve it."

"Well, why haven't they sent anyone since then?" She returned his exhausted exhale with one of her own. "I get these people are dying but I have a responsibility too and a fuckton more will die if I don't complete my objective."

"We tried…the other teams sent down there were ravaged by those creatures and now it's all we can do to simply keep this small area free of them and protect the survivors." The older man clasped his hands together, eyes sagging downwards to his feet. "Please, I'm begging you. I don't mean to be melodramatic but you are quite literally our last hope."

Shepard threw her hands skyward in defeat. "Fucking fine, we'll kill the bugs and grab your meds for you. Just, quit guilt-tripping me alright? I've got enough shit on my plate without running errands for every person with a sob story."

And just like that, the conversation was over. The platinum blonde haired woman tucked her hair back into a tight ponytail and slammed the helmet back on, encasing her features once again. "Come on you two, we've gotta help these poor fuckers out so somebody gets out of this hellhole alive." She yanked her hand forward as we moved back upstairs, mumbling under her breath the whole time. "I swear, I've run across more helpless bastards since becoming a Spectre than anyone could imagine. Makes me tired just thinking about 'em all."

Grinning to myself, I trailed behind the two women, my injury causing me to wince sharply at every other step. "And yet you still help them, despite all your complaining."

"You're playing with fire Wolf, don't say another word or-"

"Or what?" I interrupted. "You'll get **more** pissed at me than you already are? I kinda stopped giving a fuck once I learned how random your mood swings are. I'll deal with whatever shit I have to eat once this mission's over but until then, you're getting the full Wolfert experience."

Liara looked from me to our boss, just waiting for something to happen but the only response was a grumbled. "Just keep my back clean while we fight these pricks. Knowing our track record something's going to go wrong, it's never just a simple, 'grab it and go,' when we're involved."

"I would say you jinxed it but we were all thinking the same thing." Sure enough, we were accosted by the green fucks a few hundred yards after escaping another elevator ride. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, and fuck you especially." I yelled out as I picked up a dangerously close rachni, impaling its' pincers into the side of a larger one.

Roaring their weird, shrieking battle cry, a rachni soldier skittered across the floor at me, spewing acid as it waved its deadly tentacles around.

"Liara, bio-support right. Get your ass out of there Wolf." Using a charge, I flash-stepped my way to the left and out of the immediate proximity of the biotic attack our asari maiden just launched.

"Rachni is immobilized."

Yanking my arm upward, I caught another with my mind and grouped them as closely as I could with a pull. "Last explosive round incoming, watch yourselves."

I hauled my grenade launcher off my back, spinning it towards the desired targets and then slammed a fragmentation round down the barrel before releasing it towards the floating pair. The explosion rocked the small room, hurling the duo to the ground as they were shredded by the hundreds of tiny flechettes.

"Good effect Wolf. Solid usage." Chelsea absentmindedly congratulated my shot as she fired her two N7 Eagle machine pistols, holding the guns akimbo as she sprayed bullets. "Did I hear you right that's your last of those?"

"Gimme a sec." I grunted as I tucked the weapon onto its strip, backpedaling hurriedly all the while to keep the rachni from closing on me too much. Without hesitation, I let my arm drop to the small of my back and pulled out my trusty shotgun, letting it join the din with its own semi-auto bark. "Need to clear some space here."

Without another word, my two female teammates turned and fired their weapons at the oncoming rachni which turned in confusion at the bullets coming from three directions. In the vicious crossfire we had set up, it only took a second or three for the hissing to stop and the oncoming creature to fall to the ground in a slug-ridden heap.

"But yeah." Switching weapons once again, I pulled out my Lancer. We were starting to collectively walk our way towards the formula location, or at least where it was supposed to be, now. Keeping the rachni in front of us was really the only way to deal with them, being surrounded meant death. "I'm down to an EMP and a fire round. Explosive shit's all gone."

She cursed passionately. "Fuck me." From the corner of my eye, I watched as she rotated with robotic efficiency and brought an LMG to bear. "We need to get you more pouches for those things next mission. Heavy ordinance has already saved our asses more than once."

"If there is a next mission. There seems to be no end to these creatures." Liara mumbled.

All unneeded conversation grew quiet as it was now all we could do to tide the stem of rachni. The only sounds that filled the room were the screeching of the green tide, our weapons roaring back at them and deep grunts of effort.

"Bio-cade coming center!"

Seeing an incoming acid spray, I jumped to the front to shield my two squadmates. My side flared in pain once again at the biotic effort, but I had no choice other than struggle through. Thanks to the wound, my barricade flashed out of existence much quicker than I anticipated and a small stream came through. I couldn't see where it ended but a feminine scream that sounded like the asari rattled my eardrums and I cursed my own weakness.

"Liara's wounded." Chelsea broadcasted the two words over our general channel and it took all that I had not to yank my head backwards to view how bad the damage was. Hopefully her own personal barrier took the brunt of it but for now I just need to kill these things.

"Charging right, protect Liara and don't hit me." My body protested the rapid movement as I biotically threw myself into a rachni. If we were down to only one fully-functional fighter this would become a mess in a hurry so an added layer of risk was needed at this exact moment.

Thankfully my aggressive move caught the attacker off guard and I plowed into its side with all the force of an out of control aircar, sending it on its side with both pincers flailing helplessly in mid-air. I focused a tight warp into its underside, following the attack up with a couple pistol shots but surprisingly, the thing went down fast which triggered a sudden realization.

"It won't be easy but hit these fuckers underneath if you can." I continued to freelance as I spoke, pivoting on a heel and charging into a surging rachni that was coming for the two females. "Their defenses are nowhere near as strong on their underbelly. My attacks ripped right through."

The Lion of Elysium responded to my shout over the group channel. "Good intel Wolf. Team, take notice of that and shift tactics accordingly. Those with biotics, go for lifts and spin the enemy in mid-air."

Deciding to take his advice, I focused on the enemy I had just attacked and raised my hands skyward, suspending it about four feet off the ground. With a yell, I slowly spun it towards Chelsea, counting on her to understand and act accordingly.

As the N7 shredded the soft underbelly of the creature with round after round, the sounds of a scuffle and conflicting voices came over the group channel. "Woley, calm down, I told you this-"

"Get out of the way Joker, I know you do more than just keep tabs on helmet feeds. You have a direct comms line to the ground team and I intend to take advantage of it." My longtime partner's voice came over the intercom. To the rest of the team he probably seemed cool as a fucking cucumber but for someone who'd known him seven years now like myself, the tension was almost palpable. "Commander Shepard sir, First Lieutenant Woley requesting permission to assemble a strike team from the members onboard and come to your aid immediately."

The response was automatic. "Denied. It would be more trouble than help at this point keeping tabs on one more group that could potentially get ambushed by rachni. Plus, with the hurdles we had to jump through just to get here I doubt you would get here in time to be of help anyway. I know how you feel LT but just sit tight. We're more than capable of taking care of things down here."

A muffled sigh drifted back but that was the only sign of his true feelings as he buried them in a veneer of military professionalism. "Roger that sir! Will continue to monitor ship and immediate vicinity for threats."

I knew how it felt to be helpless while watching the object of your affection suffer so a part of me sympathized with my best friend. The other part was too busy cleaning up the last of these vicious bugs to think of much else. "Clear me some space."

"Can do. Fall back thirty feet." A whizzing of a thrown object sounded overhead as I did a one-eighty and dashed back, accompanied by the clinking of metal on solid ground. "Deck, now."

Hurling myself to the ground, my ribs cried in agony at the jarring movement. This time though, I didn't even have the strength to get up. Even if I couldn't get back to my feet though, I wasn't going to give Chelsea the satisfaction of being the one to carry us through this life-or-death struggle.

"Wolf you idiot, get your ass back here where I can cover you properly!" She hissed, bringing out her sniper rifle for the first time and making her presence known immediately by discharging a round straight through the eye of an oncoming enemy.

"I can handle myself fine, just protect Liara so the little guy doesn't have an aneurysm back up there on the ship."

"Wolf I swear to God…"

I shut her out at that point, focusing solely on the remaining few enemies in front of me. Fighting off the spasm in my side, I jerked my rifle to the right, firing a burst at an oncoming rachni. As it fell to the ground, a singularity flew over my head and ensnared another two. Well that means Liara's alive and kicking at least, so that's something.

Taking advantage of their helpless status, I waited for the heat levels in my weapon to drop slightly before I shifted in my seated position and let my Lancer roar out another burst of bullets. Chelsea decided to pitch in as well, judging from the heavy torrent coming in from just off my left shoulder. Slug after slug tore into the armored body of the rachni but when they fell to the ground, the biotic attack's effects finally dissipating, they didn't move.

Grunting heavily, I lifted a rapidly approaching rachni before hurling it into another, the duo tumbling over each other in a heap of green. "Grenade out!" The female Shepard whipped an explosive device into their midst and after a slight delay, flames burst forth, engulfing the panicking creatures and ending their struggle for good.

"I think that's the last of them." The voice of Chelsea grew nearer as I felt myself being gingerly pulled to my feet despite my protests. "Oh get up already Wolf, I'm not giving you a fucking piggyback ride as much as you'd enjoy that I'm sure."

Despite myself, a little smile appeared at the woman's prodding and I struggled upwards. For the first time, I saw the damage done to T'Soni and it…wasn't pretty. Her helmet had been quickly discarded, a charred hole burned right through it. That wasn't the only damage though, the rachni acid had eaten through her headpiece too quickly and one of her headcrests was missing a sizable chunk in the back along with being a much darker hue.

"Fuck." I averted my eyes. "I really thought I could stop that attack, if I had been at full strength I'm sure I would-"

She was having none of it though. "Do not beat yourself up over it Nathan, if you had not done what you had I might have been killed on the spot instead of just injured." I generated a small amount of medi-gel from my omni-tool and pointed to the area. In response she just nodded, so I went through with delicately applying the healing salve to her wound. "Besides, I am still perfectly capable of fighting. It is merely a flesh wound and will not interfere with my combat capabilities in any way."

"That's good to hear because I don't know if I could drag along **two** walking wounded. One is more than enough." Chelsea took point and waved for us to follow behind her. "As much as I wish we could sit down and recover, there's no time for that. There doesn't seem to be an end to the bastards so the rachni will be on us again before too long, I'm sure of it. We've survived these ambushes so far but all it takes is one mistake in situations like this."

"Just lead the way and let us cripples tag along behind you then." I popped open my map. "According to the data I…procured, our destination should be just up ahead."

"And all we have to do is find the formula, secure it and return it to the doctor, correct?" Liara quizzed.

"It better be." Chelsea slammed the door open in front of us, shaking a few random glass vials that were haphazardly strewn about on tables. "Because if that fucking doc thinks he can extort any more good deeds out of us, the only thing he's getting is a-"

She trailed off, any threats that were in her mind being immediately put to the side by the sight in front of us. "Fucking hell…it looks like we found the science team."

Butchered corpses in white lab coats, stained red, green and blue from the mixing of human and alien blood littered the floor haphazardly. A retching sound came from my side and I turned just in time to see Liara empty the contents of her stomach onto the floor. My own mask helped filter some of the stench of death out but the now helmetless asari took the full brunt of it with nothing to stifle it anyway.

Chelsea turned towards the two of us and even through her helmet I could see the disgusted expression on her face. "As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to check the bodies."

"Yeah. Chances that one of them had it on their person's pretty high." I glanced back at the still struggling young maiden behind the two of us. Chels and I were hardened soldiers who'd been around death for years now but for Liara, she was still an archaeologist who hadn't gone through anywhere near the amount of combat we had. She had skills and training, there was no doubt of that, but the horrors of seeing people massacred like this wasn't something that a trainer could prepare you for. "I think we should have Liara cover our backs while the two of us search, we uh…don't wanna get ambushed while we're sitting ducks like this."

Shepard nodded, obviously understanding the intention behind my words. "Agreed. Liara, you'll be on overwatch. Check for any rachni or intruders while we find this thing."

The woman nodded, clearly thankful for not being stuck with the grim duty of rummaging through dead bodies marred by burning acid and pierced through with oversized claws. "Understood, I will keep watch for anything suspicious."

And now it was time to actually do the thing. Fuck. I went up to the closest of the twenty or so personnel that stretched the length of the glassed-in room, a salarian that had a hole in his chest the size of my pistol. That could have been me if Tali hadn't said something back on the roof.

Pushing that morbid line of thought to the side, I pulled out my Lancer and shoved the corpse with the barrel, searching for any kind of tube or vial. "What's this thing look like again Chels?"

"Black unmarked cylinder, probably about the size of your launcher ammo."

"Roger that. I'll give a shout if I find it."

Well, nothing like that on this guy. That's one down and nineteen to go. I made sure to tuck my Recon Hood into the top of my armor especially tight, then moved onto the next one. This one had clearly been hit by acid judging from the burn marks that marred his crest. I prodded once again before bending down and searching the turian's pockets by hand.

As my search came up empty once again I cursed loudly. If this is really an inside job then whoever pulled this shit has got something coming to them. These scientists were just people doing their job and didn't deserve to die like this. At this point though there's nothing I can do but find that cure and make sure no one else needs to die unnecessarily. Focusing on the anger now bubbling to the surface, I left the turian where he lay and moved onto the next one.

"I think I've got it." After searching through about two-thirds of the bodies with my commander, I had finally gotten a hit. Pulling the dark tube from the pockets of an asari, I held it up to show. "You think this is it?"

She popped open her visor to study it closer before slamming it closed just as quickly, forgetting for a brief moment where we were. There was a small pause as she composed herself while examining it before giving the item back to me. "Matches up close enough. Keep it one of your slots there, should fit well enough."

"Gotcha, lemme check it really quick." Sure enough, the thing slammed home comfortably, now keeping the last two grenades I had left company. "You were right, thing should fit pretty snug as long as I don't jostle it too much."

"Good, let's going then."

We were stopped dead in our tracks by a voice over the shared team chat. "Chelsea, are the three of you ok?" He sounded almost panicked, at least for Shepard. For anyone else it probably would have sounded like the picture of calm. "I need a sitrep ASAP."

"Everything's cool bro, don't even worry about it." The lieutenant commander responded, before handing the cure over to me for safekeeping. "One of Liara's crests was a bit damaged by that acid attack but she doesn't show any signs of it being serious."

A sigh of relief could plainly be heard before he answered. "That's a relief. We went down to the hot labs and ended up activating a neutron purge that should cut down on the number of rachni we have to wade through."

"What about Benezia?" I couldn't help but worm my way into the conversation.

"My hunch was right, which is the main reason why I was concerned for the three of you. Not only was the matriarch nowhere to be found, but upon returning to the main floor, Ventralis and his men attacked us."

Chelsea snorted derisively. "Fucker was on her and Saren's payroll I'm assuming then. Typical."

"That seems to be the case. He didn't even give the impression that he wanted to attack us in the first place, but some part of him seemed to carry pride in following through for his employers."

I just shook my head. Pride in your job does you a whole lot of good when it forces you to throw yourself into the teeth of a Goddamn Spectre and his team. Unlucky son of a bitch should have seen which way the wind was blowing and ditched his masters. Not much we can fucking do about it now though. Only thing left is to keep on with the job and make sure we get to Benezia.

As the conversation ended, Chelsea hoisted her massive M76 Revenant and leaned it against her shoulder, turning towards the two of us as we began to make our way back up. "Well, you know what that means you two."

"Keep your head on a swivel and watch out for a fucking surprise attack."

"Exactly." Our little team's commander grew grim. "And count on it to be a lot quieter than some rachni attack. Ambushers don't tend to scream loudly before they jump you, unlike those monsters."

A quiet crackle that I was all too familiar with startled me out of my trance and instinctively, I charged to the side to avoid whatever attack was incoming. To my surprise though, no gunshot cracked through the small room and no armor hitting the floor signaled a death. Instead, the apologetic voice of Liara T'Soni was the only sound.

"I apologize commander, I did not see her."

Our asari maiden was standing awkwardly still, a temple pressed against her now helmetless temple. Not that it would have mattered from that distance, a single shot would have gone straight through the brain if a quick death was what her assailant wanted. Now we were in a damn hostage situation though.

The head of another asari peeked out from behind and I instantly recognized the bitchy one from upstairs who had been no help whatsoever. Shepard wasn't wrong about spies being fucking everywhere in this place, can't trust a single person after this shit.

"That's the point of a tactical cloak, although I'm not surprised a pureblooded bitch like you took that long to understand it."

I switched on my mask's external speakers and addressed the elephant in the room. "So, what do you want?"

Her hand pulsed with warpfire as it came dangerously close to Liara's temple and her pistol flew towards me. "I want you to stop dead in your tracks and quit slowly edging your way to my side." Instantly I froze, not wanting to risk the life of my teammate. "That's right, I'm in control here. You just make your way towards your commander there and be a good little boy."

Bristling inwardly, I stomped towards Chelsea who radiated pure hatred even through the armor. Surprisingly though, she hadn't spoken through her helmet's voice broadcast and instead addressed the team on our shared channel. "We got the meds but Liara's been taken captive. Asari spy has a gun to her head and is using biotics in the other. Rush to our position ASAP."

A quick double-click of understanding came back, Shepard opting to waste no time whatsoever. In the meantime, I just watched with my eezo vision as the asari's biotics cascaded from nothing to active and then back again. As long as she stayed quiet I was fine, but anymore moves like that and who knows what could happen. If she manages to get us in a singularity or even a pull as close as we are, she could kill the three of us in an instant. I'll have to keep an eye out.

It seems that Chelsea was content letting me take lead for now though, as no words were being spoken over open air still. Guess it's time to go on the offensive. "You know, for as much planning as must have gone into this, you really fucked up in one major regard."

"Wolf, I know where you're going and don't do it. We can't risk Liara." Chelsea's voice grew harsh. "No one dies under my command."

I switched back to the shared channel for a brief moment and hissed out a response. "If we don't do something fast, we're **all** going to fucking die here. Your brother's not going to get here in enough time and even if he does, the second three more people show up, this commando starts blasting."

It was the hostage-taker's turn to talk now. "Oh? And what would this, 'fuck up,' be? As far as I can tell, you two are powerless here." She cocked her head to the side in amusement, apparently still extremely confident. "I take the medicine, meet up with Benezia and then the rachni finish what was started here. The rachni getting loose wasn't in our initial plan but whoever sabotaged the containment systems really did us a favor in terms of covering our tracks."

"If you think that a few people getting hurt in the way of our objective getting done bothers us then you really didn't do your research." I laughed loudly, still keeping my modded eye on the woman as I turned to Chelsea. "I don't think she realizes she's dealing with here. The Butcher of Torfan and Sole Survivor of Akuze are pretty used to death by this point. If you think taking one asari captive, even if she happens to be your boss' kid, is going to stop us then you're an even bigger dumbass than I thought."

"But-"

By now I was fully rolling and nothing was going to stop me. "But nothing. The only way you walk out of this alive is by tucking your tail between your legs, dropping your gun to the ground and running out of here…like a good little girl."

At my reversal of her words, an almost feral growl came from the alien woman's lips and with it Chelsea's voice burst through my helmet's earpiece. "Wolf you will stand down right the fuck now and that's an order. The only entrance is the way we came and the rest of the squad will be coming any minute now."

I shut my speakers down and switched back to the shared voice channel. "We don't **have** minutes. I've dealt with enough hostage situations to see how this plays out and if we don't move in the next twenty seconds, one of us gets fucking splattered and I'm trying my best to make sure that doesn't happen."

Despite the shitty situation she was in, Liara resolutely set her head forward. "Shepard, do not turn the medicine over to this woman or surrender yourselves-"

Her captor jammed the pistol harder into her temple. "Shut the fuck up bitch, you say another word and I swear to the Goddess I'll pull this trigger."

"Do it then." Her eyes were positively ablaze with passion. "As I was saying, if I have to die so that innocents might be saved that is acceptable to me."

Shepard finally turned on her external speakers. "Don't even talk like that Liara, Wolf is going to turn the medicine over and we're getting out of here after that."

"That's right." The asari held out an open palm. "But I don't want your mercenary taking one step closer to me."

I interrupted her, seething at my characterization. "I'm a **private contractor** , not a fucking merc. Get that through your crested skull."

"I don't care either way." Thanks to my eezo vision, I could see her biotics starting to flare to life again, ready to be used at the slightest provocation now. "You're a biotic, use that to float the medicine over to me. After that, I'll be making my way to the elevator with the matriarch's daughter here. Once I step in, I'll throw her back to you two and then I'll be on my way. You three can struggle in the tide as best as you see fit afterwards."

"That's acceptable." Chelsea hastily took her up on it. For fuck's sake woman, at least stall for your brother to get here or some shit.

If something's going to happen in our favor, I need to do it myself and quick. "Chels, please. I know you don't have the best opinion of me right now but she will kill Liara and then try to do the same to us the instant I hand over the meds. She has no reason not to."

"I get that but we don't have an option here Wolf. We'll make the best of it as things develop."

"Fine."

Pistons started firing off in my head as I started reaching into my armor's loops. I'm going to have to focus hard here so let's start with the specifics. She is about 10 meters away from me, she is exhausted from the look of the warp she can barely keep concentrated and she has a raging superiority complex from all the encounters I've had with her so far. Alright…I've got a basic plan, just have to be careful not to hurt Liara with this.

Even the voice of my commander in my ear didn't dissuade me. "Wolf, you better not have some half baked idea going-" I got out of the voice channel and just like that, there was silence.

Activating my biotics with a grunt, I held the cylindrical object aloft, careful to keep it rotating not too far from my hand. If I made one wrong move or set her off prematurely this could prove disastrous.

"Now bring it to my hand."

"If you say so." Keeping my concentration up, I took in a deep breath and prepared for my side to kill me for the stunt I was about to pull.

I pretended to flair in pain and let go of the medicine. It honestly wasn't even much of an act with how my side has been treating me. Falling to a knee, I caught the vial with my hand and looked at the ground, panting heavily.

"Be careful you fucking moron. If that container breaks, your friend here ends up with her brain matter on the floor." Her face morphed into a snarl as her pistol pressed harder into Liara's head.

Breathing heavily to reinforce my act, I glanced up at the woman. "Look, I just had my side impaled not too long ago, it's a struggle just for me to keep this afloat. My commander won't risk the chance of Liara getting hurt and I'm not much of a threat right now. How about I float the container and you pull it the rest of the way toward you?"

"Fine!" I silently mouthed a thank you for the mask I was wearing as it hid my grin. The hostage-taker was obviously losing patience quickly.

I've got to do this carefully now. As she starts up her biotics to pull the medicine closer, I used a fraction of my concentration to lift the medicine. Her hand snaked outwards, eyes concentrating fully on the medicine and away from my other hand that was holding me from hitting the ground as it formed a heavily concentrated throw. Fun fact about biotics, the least challenging skill for us is to cause small objects to float with simple mass effect fields. Something as small as the medicine I can keep afloat for a solid minute with just a flicker of my biotics. Of course she probably knew that but thanks to thinking she has everything going for her and already deeming me as a nonthreat that has to use everything he has to keep this medicine floating that little fact probably wasn't front and center in her mind. In reality however, the real reason my side is now acting up is I'm preparing to use a biotic technique dubbed, "lance." My time with Caleb going over biotic techniques also involved delving into some of the less known variations of simple moves, like throw being altered into a very narrow and precise application that was oh so rewarding if pulled off right.

As she started pulling the medicine forward I let myself fall forward quickly, launching the biotic spear straight into the bitch's head. Reactivating my biotics, I caught the vial and returned it to its rightful places as her practically headless body slumped to the floor.

I'm not sure if it was the noise from the body hitting the ground or the sudden lack of pressure against her that made her realize the situation but to her credit she didn't hesitate. Frantically, Liara rushed away from the body and came back toward us.

I spoke in low tones over the entire team chat. "Mitch, you owe me so fucking big right now." Turning from the corpse in front of me though, I jogged over to the asari who was surprisingly unshaken as she stood next to Chelsea. "Oh shit, here comes that hurt I was talking about."

I was forced to practically double over in front of the two women as I pulled up my mask and vomited out the energy bars and nutrient drinks that filled my system. Don't think I've ever thrown up from sheer pain before. That's an entirely new feeling.

"You think that's pain?" Oh God no. Here comes the next wave, in human form this time. "I gave you a direct order and you willfully did the exact opposite. You saved Liara's life and I'll take that into account but we cannot have you just doing whatever the hell you decide on at any given moment. That's not how a team should operate."

I fell to my knees and looked up into the emotional hurricane that was Chelsea Shepard. She looked like she didn't know whether to pick me up and toss me to a rachni, shoot me on the spot or hug me for saving Liara. As fucked up as I was, the hug might have even been enough to kill me at this point.

"Chels, I'm gonna have to cut you off right there." I held up my hand. "Can we please just wait until we're back on the ship to do this? We're already at a strained combat effectiveness as a unit and we haven't even gotten to Matriarch Benezia yet. The chances that she has a squad of bad-ass commandoes with her is about one-hundred percent and you're going to need me on two feet for that fight. If we're going up against a group of strong biotics then you're going to need as much firepower as you can get."

"Wolf's right." I silently mouthed, "thank you," skyward at hearing Caleb's voice. "Benezia is a capable combatant and the force with her will no doubt be as well. We'll have time to sort this out later."

"Fine." She got behind me, looped her arms under my shoulders and hauled me to my feet. It was a good thing she did too because I struggled to stay upright, at least until the team krogan came by and grabbed me by the shoulder. "We'll have a meeting once we get back to the Normandy. Get this shit figured the fuck out."

I nodded weakly before glancing up at Wrex who was giving a toothy grin. "How'd the fight with Ventralis go big guy?"

"He was hiding behind a couple of his lackeys so I rushed them, blasted two that were dumb enough to get in my way and then caved that idiot captain's skull in with my biotics."

"Sounds about right." I pursed my lips and nodded grimly. Having seen the krogan battlemaster in action now, he could say just about anything and I'd believe it. "Any injuries?"

"Not a scratch." He shook his head and chuckled darkly. "I think they thought ambushing us while divided would be enough to tilt things in their favor. They found out how wrong they were pretty quickly."

I gave a quick assent before clasping the krogan's meaty hand and limping my way onward. At least I tried to, before a heavily accented voice stopped me in my tracks. "What did you do to yourself now?"

"Nothing serious, Mom." I grinned and turned towards Tali. "Had to go a bit overboard with the biotics to make sure we survived but I'm good now. It's not anything that Chakwas can't fix with some nutrients, medi-gel and a fuckton of stitches."

"That better be all it is."

Raising my right hand in an oath, I swore to the tenacious young woman. "My side is torn open, I've probably got biotic exhaustion coming on and I'm going to have a major crash once these stims wear off but other than that I'm great. Seriously, you saved my life up on the roof and because of that I'll be just fine. If you hadn't said something, I'd probably still be up there freezing with the rest of the corpses." I grew deadly solemn, trying to convey my appreciation. "So this is me saying thank you, I owe you a big one. You just name what you want and it's yours."

"I want you to stop getting hurt all the time you bosh'tet." Her hand drew back to slap some sense into me but she thought better of it. At the same time, her voice grew much quieter and her fingers interlaced with each other, as if they were fighting for dominance. "It's really not a big deal though, I would have done it for anybody of course. You just happened to be the one closest there, protecting me from the rachni, so I had to say something."

"Well I mean, Caleb was there too. He seemed to have things handled on his end though so it's just me, taking the brunt of the injuries once again for no reason whatsoever."

A small sigh escaped from her lips. Was that disappointment? God I really need to get better at talking to women, especially non-humans. For whatever reason I seem to struggle even worse than usual in that subject. Maybe she was just thinking about Caleb or something, she did have a pretty noticeable crush on the guy when we first joined up…although I haven't seen them talking too much lately to be fair so who knows what's going on with that.

"Let's go meet with the doctor and get this cure to him."

Caleb hurried us towards the elevator as his sister tacked onto his statement. "After that it's onto Benezia and I swear to God if she doesn't have at least a half-dozen commandoes with her I'm going to bust some skulls. Doing all these good deeds is getting me pissed."

It was a short way back to the doctor's office and I actually waited outside with Chelsea and Wrex, making sure that no one was coming in after us to stab us in the back again. The good news in all our wandering around this fucking place was that there was only one way left to go according to the schematics I had…traded for. That meant this thing was finally drawing to an end, one way or another.

"Let's move." I was broken out of my thoughts by the voice of our CO who held a thin item aloft in the air only for it to be snatched by his older twin. "Don't damage that please, it's going to get us through the security checkpoint without having to hack anything or use explosives." He craned his neck to look at me. "Speaking of, how are you doing on M-100 rounds?"

"Got an incendiary and an EMP that's it."

He muttered under his breath. "Save them until I say otherwise, I have a feeling we'll need to make it count."

"Roger that bossman."

"Well, at least we fucking got something out of all this shit." Chelsea held up the keycard that the doc had given us as a reward for helping those who were inflicted with that virus and stuck on this frozen iceball. "I mean, not that helping people isn't reward enough blah blah blah, insert obligatory good Samaritan shit here."

Despite myself I couldn't help but smile at her words. There's something to be said for bluntness at least. "We're here team." The Lion of Elysium cut her off before the rant could continue, simultaneously arranging us for the final push. "Chelsea and Wrex up front. Tali on Chels' side and Liara on the other. Wolf and I will direct traffic from back here." Well, at least I won't have to pull bullet sponge duty for once. Makes a nice little change.

Cautiously, the six of us made our way through the scanning turrets and up to the final obstacle in our way. As the female Spectre inserted the small object into a scanner, Caleb gave some final advice. "Be ready for anything. Rachni, geth, commandoes…we're surrounded by the unknown but one thing's for sure, something out there is going to give us a fight. And with our objective this close, I have a feeling it's going to be a rough one."

 **A/N: So Noveria's finally drawing to a close, I think next chapter will be the conclusion to this frigid planet and then it's fun times back on the Normandy as Wolf has to deal with the ever-growing Chelsea Shepard issue. There's actually been a bit of a role-reversal for that as my beta Ranger Station Charlie wrote the scene (big thanks goes to him once again) and I get to play editor so keep an eye out for that upcoming little chat ;)**

 **Also, in order to keep the word count more accurate and just because I like talking to you guys personally, if you leave a review and have an account I'll PM you back, even if it's just a simple, "Thanks!" For those of you who have guest accounts and leave reviews it'll be the same as usual, but since all the reviews this week were from account members there won't be a review answering portion.**


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